The fact is waste costs are rising beyond even the current high levels of inflation and have been for years. To take control of waste costs requires firstly some knowledge and secondly some effort to make simple, yet effective changes. The waste carriers understand 100% how to achieve efficiency and you simply need to learn how they do it.
Amazingly 99% of those managing and dealing with commercial waste do so with no official training. Mostly little more than domestic waste know-how. Running commercial waste is a very different proposition.
The fact is, costs are intrinsically linked to recycling, so the better you recycle, the loser your costs. Therefore, the more you understand your waste streams – the lower your costs will be.
Of course, that not the whole story. But for many businesses it is enough of a shift of quick and simple process that enables significant cost reductions and a big tick on your recycling goals.
Interestingly, many businesses give waste disposal to the most junior member of staff, perhaps even weekend part time 15 – 18 year old. This creates an issue that they are often not trained in any way to efficiently deal correctly with the individual waste streams. Instead valuable recyclables are put in General Waste bins and the opportunities for savings are lost.
Seperation of waste is the single biggest factor to determine recycling rates, but ‘bin management’ by far determines the biggest cost savings through efficient scheduling and filling of each bin type. If bins are scheduled to be collected, invariably you pay for full bins to be collected, regardless of whether they were full or empty.
Of course, this also means big dirty lorries are potentially collecting more often than is actually necessary, Another key facet of being sustainable, often ignored.
The key to efficient waste management of any size business is understanding the waste you create from source to collection. Then how it is separated and collected. Black bin bags are the skirge of efficient waste management and should be avoided. They mask what is in the bags and enable lazy seperation.
Naturally, once this efficiency is implemented there is an equally natural desire to share this good news with colleagues, customers and have buy in from your supply chain. The Green Initiative exists for exactly this purpose and to encourage further efficiencies through tips, advise and our new resources section.