Waste collection, the recycling process in particular, can get confusing quickly. Often you’ll only start to realize the complexities and the impact on your bottom line once you run into a service issue or see an unexpected line item on your bill a month later.
To recycle smarter at your business, it’s helpful to set expectations from the onset by asking some key questions to your waste and recycling hauler — the answers to which may have never been covered and likely won’t appear in your contract. Hopefully you partner with a high-quality provider who communicates and is happy to answer your questions (if not, this could signal you’re not getting what you need from your current hauler). Use the questions below to get the conversation started.
When trying to better understand your operating expenses (recycling being one of them), you may find it to be a frustrating process. One of the primary factors is the fact that where you are located matters.Meaning commercial recycling in Chicago may operate under completely different rules than Atlanta commercial recycling services. And your needs will change depending on your operations. Another factor is your type of business; Recycling for offices requires a different set of services versus recycling services for a restaurant chain, for example. City to city, business to business and even hauler to hauler, policies differ based on market dynamics, legal requirements, infrastructure capabilities and hauler services offered.
Commercial recycling’s benefits are multifold:
Businesses should consider the costs and benefits of recycling before implementing any type of program. It comes down to how much it costs to collect, transport, sort, break down and reform into new products. It also involves the supply and demand of materials. For example, it’s cheaper in many cases for a petrochemical company to make virgin plastic from oil than it is to use recycled material to create products.
On the other hand, a well-run and properly managed recycling program can be cheaper than other forms of waste disposal for a business. Recycling metal and glass is absolutely cost-effective. Aluminum is a material that can be recycled indefinitely and takes as much as 95% less energy to produce products than using virgin material. Glass is highly recyclable in a way that doesn’t lose quality each time it’s broken down.
Even if your business makes a valiant attempt to recycle and aim for cost savings with landfill diversion strategies, there are many reasons why you may see bill increases seemingly out of the blue.
Part of the reason could be due to one-off charges due to poor sorting or high contamination, which can add up over time without fixing the problem (more details in the next section). More broadly is the issue of annual price increases, or APIs. Put plainly, they’re a price mechanism counteracting the cost of doing business for the hauler.
Asking your hauler about avoidable charges or APIs are good places to start — if anything, it tells them that you’re paying attention. RoadRunner values this, too. Leveraging proprietary algorithms for analysis and unique position in the industry, we work alongside other haulers to keep things fair. Even if your business is already in a contract, RoadRunner can leverage its proprietary technology, buying power and network of preferred haulers to deliver cost-effective solutions that can include API caps.
When it comes to the staging of your collections — dumpsters, compactors, balers, etc. — haulers are increasingly particular that you meet certain criteria. What’s difficult is that this criteria isn’t the same from hauler to hauler. On top of that, even the smallest violation is known to carry a penalty. For example, you could be penalized for:
Going over the preferred staging of your pickups with your hauler ensures an orderly routine every pickup day. That way, you can avoid an unexpected charge on your next bill.
RoadRunner’s Waste Metering technology lets you set your service schedule based on your real volumes of disposal to help you minimize overage fees.
Glass recycling programs are disappearing across the country, often without much explanation. From a hauler’s perspective, compactor trucks become burdened by the weight of too much glass, forcing them to take extra trips. This leads to higher transportation costs since trucks will need double and triple the fuel. Compounding this is the distance between a city’s MRF and a region’s cullet buyer — in some instances, it’s hundreds of miles. That means that when the economics don’t add up, traditional waste management services cut their losses, along with their programs.
Does that mean glass can be recycled? The answer isn’t necessarily black or white. If your glass isn’t being recycled, you should know whether you’re being charged extra from the bulky material weighing down your business’s dumpster. The answer is likely yes — and that glass will be expedited to the nearest landfill.
If your hauler won’t pick up glass as a recyclable material, ask them for other resources, like where you might find local collection points or drop-off centers.
Just because an item has a number inside the arrows doesn’t automatically mean it’s recyclable. Called the Resin Identification Coding system, manufacturers stamp a designated number on their product to indicate what it’s made out of. Plastics 1 and 2 are widely accepted by most recycling programs across the country. Representing PET (polyethylene terephthalate) and HDPE (high-density polyethylene), respectively, items like plastic water and soda bottles and various packaging materials can be added to recycling bins without worry.
You’ll have to ask your hauler if Plastics 3 through 7 are accepted. In some markets, there’s demand for #3 PVC and #5 PP, while in others, virtually none. In effect, that could mean attempting to commingle 3s and 5s with 1s and 2s causes the whole load to become contaminated (and potentially worthless). Your provider should be able to provide guidance on which plastics they’ll pick up.
Like glass, food waste can weigh down your trash and eat away at your budget. But the negatives extend far beyond that. The EPA reports that 24% of landfills are made up of wasted food, material responsible for 9% of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions as it decomposes there.
There aren’t an overwhelming amount of elegant solutions for food waste available to commercial businesses. The nation’s largest haulers do offer programs that yield impressive results, but these services aren’t available in every market.
Consider RoadRunner’s RecycleMore™ program, which has diverted one million tons of recyclables from landfills to date. For example, RoadRunner was able to divert more than 7,000 tons of food waste annually for Unified CML, as well as negotiate a 10% cost savings with Unified CML’s existing hauler.
Your waste and recycling hauler should be willing and ready to help answer your questions — whether you want to know your options for commercial waste reduction and recycling, or ask about charges that you see on your invoice. If they’re unwilling or difficult to reach when you need help, it could be time to explore your options and make the switch to a hauler with better service.