How to Put Your Waste Management on Auto-Pilot

I’m willing to bet you didn’t wake up this morning thinking about how you could spend more of your time thinking about trash.

But I’d like you to consider spending a few minutes thinking about trash today.

Why?

Well, first, 90% of companies are overspending on their waste. You don’t need to be one of them. There are too many hidden problems that most companies have, and what they don’t know hurts them.

Second, it’s easy to save on your waste expenses. You don’t have to do inordinate amounts of work. You don’t have to do tons and tons of research to try to figure out how to save.

In fact, this blog post will show you just how easy it can be to save if you don’t have the money or time for a typical waste review.

You can put your waste management on auto-pilot by:

• Delegating the waste review process.

• Taking on 0% risk during the process itself.

• Ensuring future savings

Delegate the waste review process.

In order to save on your waste expenses, you need an independent waste review. Waste and recycling haulers don’t have the financial incentive to properly evaluate your real waste needs. They rarely set up service agreements that help you save. They don’t make it easy for you to make changes to your services or contract specifications.

You need a waste ally - someone who knows the industry and can show you where your savings opportunities are. You don’t need to have the time or expertise to do it yourself. You can delegate the entire process to a trusted industry expert.

You don’t need to be involved in the nitty-gritty details of your waste management process. You and your staff likely have more important things to attend to.

We take on the thorough examination process so our clients don’t have to. We find every overlooked savings opportunity, and show you the exact steps you need to take to find savings.

Taking on 0% risk for the off-site waste review.

The way we do business is really different from a lot of other waste auditors. If we don’t find savings during our review process, you don’t owe us anything. It’s that simple.

No savings, no charge.

It doesn’t happen often (only about 10% of the time in the past 19 years!), but when it does, we simply part ways with the client without charging a dime. In this scenario, the client essentially gets a free waste audit to ensure their waste management process is efficient.

We don’t believe in charging for services that are don’t actually help your bottom line. Lots of other companies out there don’t have a problem with that. But that’s not how we do things.

There are no monthly charges or invoicing during the initial review period. Instead, our off-site team works behind the scenes in conjunction with your staff to find your savings opportunities.

And even after the review process is completed, your risk is still mitigated. How? We are paid solely out of the savings we find for you. No extra line items in the budget. No scrounging for more resources to allocate. You can always afford us because we’re paid out of your waste savings - usually at rates of 50%.

Future Savings Opportunities are Never Missed.

After your initial review process is completed, we continue to periodically review your account for other savings opportunities.

• We track all contract expiration dates. Prior to your contract’s expiration, we evaluate your market to see if other less expensive haulers are available.

• We renegotiate expiring contracts. We ensure that you get the best terms available to you. We know exactly what should - and should not - be in a new contract, and we make sure that’s exactly what you get.

• We handle the negotiate process for new contracts. If a better, less expensive vendor becomes available at the right time, we handle all the negotiations and make sure you get the ideal contract terms.

So on top of the 10-30% reduction in waste expenses every month, companies can continue to expect support to solve and prevent future waste disposal problems.

Put waste savings on auto-pilot.

Having a waste ally allows you to find waste savings automatically. During the initial audit period, we require minimal documents and interaction with your team.

Our thorough review happens entirely off-site, and we continually review your account for more savings opportunities.

The entire process maximizes your resources. We protect your time and your investment in the review process, and our results are reliable - 90% of companies we work with see a reduction in waste expenses.

What questions do you have about putting your waste savings on auto-pilot?

Free Download: "7 Ways You're Making Your Hauler Rich!"

Let me share a little secret with you: you’re almost certainly overpaying your waste hauler.

The industry isn’t designed to help you save. It’s designed to help your haulers make more and more money off you. In the past 20 years we’ve been in business, it’s something we’ve seen again and again.

So we distilled the most common way people overpay in this handy download, which can be yours for free with the click of a button!

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Stop making the same waste mistakes over and over - for good!

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Free Access: Mini E-Course, "Your 5 Hidden Waste Problems"

When was the last time you heard someone complain about their waste contract? Probably never, right?

This is because most people don’t see the waste problems right under their own nose.

They don’t know they have hidden waste problems - and chances are that you’re one of them.

This is exactly why we created this free mini course. We spell out exactly what you should look for to save.

These issues can steal thousands of dollars from your bottom line, but they can absolutely be prevented.

This course is the first of its kind and is designed for busy professionals who want to save on their company’s waste expenses.

Why this free course is necessary

90% of companies nationwide are overspending on waste by 10-30% every month. Why? Because they don’t know how they’re overspending.

Not many people have the time or expertise to carefully review their waste and recycling contracts before they sign them. You have more important things to do during your day, right?

And even fewer people know what to look for on those contracts - and when they’re hiring a hauler, or renegotiating a current contract.

But there’s another reason these problems are hidden. It’s because most haulers are not going out of their way to charge fairly and set up honest contracts. Haulers are out to make a profit, and they will sometimes go to extremes to ensure they retain your business.

In the course, we talk about how having automatic renewal clauses makes it difficult for you to change vendors. We talk about how not capping price hikes will make you overpay. We talk about how you actually aren’t required to pay ancillary fees.

We take a behind the scenes look at how haulers try to pull fast ones. And we show you what you can do about it.

How this course is delivered

One section of this 7-part course is delivered to your email inbox every three days. At the end of the course, you’ll receive a link with access to all of the videos and additional PDFs so that you can easily and permanently access the course.

This course is:

• Easy. We break down concepts and make it clear how each problem can impact your bottom line.

• Convenient. We’ll email you once every three days, so you can view the videos at your convenience. No rush, and no deadlines.

• Completely free. We’ve distilled 18 years of waste experience in this course and you can access it all for free.

And if you sign up right now, we’ll include an additional free PDF with even more savings tips!

Click here to sign up >>

Top 3 Ways Most Commercial Companies Overpay on Waste - and How to Stop!

How would you feel if your landlord let you know that they had been overcharging you by 10% on rent for the past 3 years? What if they apologized and made good on their promise to reimburse you the thousands of dollars you are owed?

There’s a certain similarity between this fictitious landlord and your waste haulers. Your waste haulers have almost certainly been charging you 10-30% more than necessary. But they’re probably going to be the very last people to admit this, and there’s no way they’re going to reimburse you.

So what can you do? Hold them accountable. Stop doing these three things:

• Not capping rate increases

• Getting too many pick-ups

• Not eliminating waste fees

These are issues we’ve fixed for many of our clients in the past 19 years, so we know that fixing these key issues will affect your bottom line positively.

Problem #1: No caps on rate increases on your waste hauler contract

Haulers, like all of us, like making profit. The problem is that most of them like doing it more than we think is fair. Haulers will raise their prices 1-4 times a year at a 10-15% increase each time! If you have multiple properties, this represents thousands of dollars in overspending.

Haulers can do this because there’s likely nothing in your current contract that limits these price hikes.

Solution: Attend to your contract. Pay attention to when your contract is up for renewal. Make sure that the “Notes” section on your contract includes price caps.

Different haulers will allow different rate caps. It depends on your region of the country and it often depends on how many competitors are in the area.

Problem # 2: Receiving Too Many Pick Ups from Your Waste Hauler.

70% of companies are getting too much service from their haulers. Why? Because haulers are compensated based on quantity of pick-ups. The more times they visit your locations, the more money they make.

So they tend to err on the side of too many pick-ups! We currently have the technology to monitor your fill levels to ensure you’re not receiving too much service. (This technology also lets us know if your hauler has missed service, and if you are due for reimbursement.)

Solution: Reduce the number of pick-ups at one of your locations. Test out how many you really need. Or, give us a call and let us do all the legwork!

Problem #3: Allowing ancillary fees on contracts.

Waste fees are fees like “administrative fees” or “waste cost recovery fees” that appear on your invoices. Most typical waste fees don’t have to be included on your contract.

And, like price hikes, if they’re not prohibited by your contract, there’s a good chance that you’ll get them on your invoices.

And we find that most waste hauling companies do exactly that.

Solution: Get all-inclusive, flat rates for your waste fees. When we negotiate client contracts, we include all fees and waste charges in one rate that is capped at a certain percentage growth. We allow the haulers to increase the flat rate at specific intervals in the contract term.

It’s fair to the haulers and it’s fair to our clients. The haulers can incrementally raise their prices to keep up with their own rising costs, but only within fair constraints. And our clients know exactly when and by how much their waste costs will rise, which really helps budgeting.

Solutions for Your Top Three Waste Problems

90% of companies have these waste problems at their locations - regardless of industry. These simply aren’t problems that most people are aware of.

But if you do the following, you will save yourself 10-30% on your waste expense every year:

• Cap price increases

• Reduce the number of pick-ups

• Eliminate ancillary fees

Doing these three simple things will help protect your bottom line and prevent future overspending.

Have you ever tried one of these solutions for your waste management?

Real Stories: Saving on Waste Expenses {Free Download}

Waste reviews are, unfortunately, not common practice in most industries. As a result, most companies overspend by 10-30% every month on too much service, inflated rates, and inefficient waste equipment.

We’ve compiled the most common waste issues in an easy-to-download document that is interspersed with our client’s take on our process. It’s the real deal, and will hopefully help you understand how other companies just like yours have saved.

Many of you have likely wondered: “Can a waste audit really help me? Will it save me money? Will it work?”

Who better to answer these questions than our clients! Throughout this document, they'll share their thoughts on the waste savings journey.

They represent different industries, and each had waste issues unique to them. But they all share one thing in common: they suspected they could be overspending on their waste expenses and they chose to do something about it.

In this whitepaper, you’ll learn how companies just like you found hidden waste savings opportunities.

We’ll show you the three steps companies took in their savings journey:

• “I could have hidden waste problems.”

• “WCI can find savings.”

• Savings achieved.

In the process, you'll learn what our waste review process was like for them, and how much they are saving or have saved as a result.

How We're Using Data to Help You Save Even More

We talk a lot around here about dumpsters, pickups, and service schedules.

If you’ve been following us for any length of time, you probably know that most US companies get too much service, and that most of them have no idea.

But what you may not know is that we now have a new way to quantify what we know by experience.

We’ve recently partnered with Compology, a company that collects data on dumpster usage. They’ve created special cameras to measure data from inside the dumpster. 

Why is this so important? Because our clients stand to save even more.

Compology’s dumpster cameras give us the following data:

• How many actual pickups vs expected pickups

• The average fullness at pickup.

• Recent pictures of fill levels

• Contamination stats

This information helps us know what your service needs actually are - and how/if the hauler is filling those needs.

It helps us ensure you’re paying for the right service levels. It makes sure you don’t pay for pickups that didn’t happen. And it keeps us up to speed on fluctuating service needs.

Without this data on waste expenses, you’re driving blind - and you’re probably paying for it. 

Like many of you, data drives the core of what we do: help people save on their waste expenses. 

When we want to get the whole picture of a company’s waste management process, we go to the invoices and contracts. These documents tell us the details of service: how often garbage is supposed to picked up, how often a particular location gets overage fees, what equipment is onsite. They also tell us who you’re working with to get trash service, and how long you’ve contracted with the service provider. 

All of this information helps us determine where you’re overspending. 

But this traditional date plus the new data we have access to increases your waste opportunities even more.

You can save by not paying for a missed pickup that would otherwise go unnoticed. You can save when the data shows us you only need twice a week service instead of three times a week.

Better data means better savings opportunities. 

How are you optimizing data in your business?

How to Renew Your Waste Hauler Contract

You should only renew your contract if you meet both of the following criteria. First, your contract may be about to expire. Most hauler contracts have a length of five years, then they automatically renew for another term. Most terms are a minimum of one year, but some contracts will renew for another five year term.

If you find yourself in the window of time prior to your contract renewing, you’re in luck! You have the freedom to evaluate whether there is better pricing or better service to be had.

Ensure your contract has these specifications, and you’ll maximize your savings opportunities.

Want to know exactly which clauses you should include in your contract?

Just give us your email address in the box below and we’ll send you a free PDF of our “Waste Contract Scorecard!”

You need to know for sure that your hauler has the best available pricing. You need to know that you are receiving the best price and the best service.

In this article, we will thoroughly examine the steps to renewing your waste hauler contract with your current vendor. (Looking to get a new contract?)

To get a new waste hauler contract with your current vendor, you’ll need to:

1. Cancel your auto-renewal clause.

2. Reach out to your sales accountant.

3. Create a new contract.

Carefully completing these steps will set you up for current savings and future opportunities.

Prior to Renewing a Waste Hauler Contract

Before you get a new contract with your current hauler, ask yourself these questions:

• Do I know for sure that no better pricing is available from other area haulers?

• Am I satisfied with the current vendor’s service record?

• Is the current hauler easy to work with?

If the answer to any of these questions is no, now is not the time to renew your contract! You need to know for sure that your current hauler is actually the best option for you.

Cancel your auto-renewal clause.

Cancelling this clause will give you the time you need to create a new contract. If you don’t cancel this clause, your contract will almost certainly renew with your current terms. This is likely not ideal because your current contract probably guarantees you’ll overspend on your waste expenses. Most contracts don’t have clauses that limit price hikes, or ancillary fees. And they don’t typically include service provisions and term limits of 3 years. Have these specifics ensures you maximize your savings opportunities.

To make sure these clauses make it into your contract, you must cancel the auto-renewal clause so you have time to draw up a new one.

Reach out to your account manager.

You must also reach out to your account manager to let them know that you are creating a new contract with additional specifications and that you are cancelling the auto-renewal clause.

In our experience, it can be difficult to get in touch with your account manager. You may need to call the general customer service line to get in touch with them; they may not have a direct line (you may rightly be suspicious as to why that is). You will also want to follow up with an email that details what you are going to do. It is always critical to have this information in writing, so that if anything is later called into question you can point to your documentation.

Some account managers are not going to be pleased since they know your specifications will likely cut into possible profits. In the event that you encounter resistance, you may need to remind your hauler that you want to agree on a contract that is mutually beneficial - not just one sided. Assure them that they will still retain your business as long as the pricing is comparable to area service rates and quality of service remains high.

Set up a new waste contract.

In almost every contract we negotiate, we try to have the following clauses in the contract.

1. Language limiting price spikes. This is by far the biggest way you’ll save. Depending on which hauler you employ, they may agree to limiting raises in your rates to one or two a year, and capped by a certain percentage. It may require a bit of haggling, but in the long run this contract specification will can easily save you thousands of dollars at one location. Read more about contract problems and solutions here.

2. No auto renewal clause. Eradicating this clause will give you the time you need to evaluate the very best pricing and service options for your waste disposal needs. It gives you the freedom to review and change contract specifications before the same old (often expensive) stipulations automatically renew.

3. A service provision. If you’ve ever had service issues at any one of your sites, you probably understand why this clause is so critical. If your hauler fails to perform, you need an easy out of your contract.

4. Short terms. We highly recommend getting three year contract terms instead of five year terms. You need the freedom to review your market waste disposal options as frequently as possible so that you can take advantage of better pricing. Shorter terms allow you to do just that, thus saving you money.

5. Limited or eliminated ancillary clauses. There’s no law saying that fees have to appear on your invoices. We prefer to have them included in the rate since your base rates are hopefully already capped. It’s really hard for your hauler to bump up your fuel charge if your contract prohibits you from having one.

How to Put Your Waste Management on Auto-Pilot

I’m willing to bet you didn’t wake up this morning thinking about how you could spend more of your time thinking about trash.

But I’d like you to consider spending a few minutes thinking about trash today.

Why?

Well, first, 90% of companies are overspending on their waste. You don’t need to be one of them. There are too many hidden problems that most companies have, and what they don’t know hurts them.

Second, it’s easy to save on your waste expenses. You don’t have to do inordinate amounts of work. You don’t have to do tons and tons of research to try to figure out how to save.

In fact, this blog post will show you just how easy it can be to save if you don’t have the money or time for a typical waste review.

You can put your waste management on auto-pilot by:

• Delegating the waste review process.

• Taking on 0% risk during the process itself.

• Ensuring future savings

Delegate the waste review process.

In order to save on your waste expenses, you need an independent waste review. Waste and recycling haulers don’t have the financial incentive to properly evaluate your real waste needs. They rarely set up service agreements that help you save. They don’t make it easy for you to make changes to your services or contract specifications.

You need a waste ally - someone who knows the industry and can show you where your savings opportunities are. You don’t need to have the time or expertise to do it yourself. You can delegate the entire process to a trusted industry expert.

You don’t need to be involved in the nitty-gritty details of your waste management process. You and your staff likely have more important things to attend to.

We take on the thorough examination process so our clients don’t have to. We find every overlooked savings opportunity, and show you the exact steps you need to take to find savings.

Taking on 0% risk for the off-site waste review.

The way we do business is really different from a lot of other waste auditors. If we don’t find savings during our review process, you don’t owe us anything. It’s that simple.

No savings, no charge.

It doesn’t happen often (only about 10% of the time in the past 19 years!), but when it does, we simply part ways with the client without charging a dime. In this scenario, the client essentially gets a free waste audit to ensure their waste management process is efficient.

We don’t believe in charging for services that are don’t actually help your bottom line. Lots of other companies out there don’t have a problem with that. But that’s not how we do things.

There are no monthly charges or invoicing during the initial review period. Instead, our off-site team works behind the scenes in conjunction with your staff to find your savings opportunities.

And even after the review process is completed, your risk is still mitigated. How? We are paid solely out of the savings we find for you. No extra line items in the budget. No scrounging for more resources to allocate. You can always afford us because we’re paid out of your waste savings - usually at rates of 50%.

Future Savings Opportunities are Never Missed.

After your initial review process is completed, we continue to periodically review your account for other savings opportunities.

• We track all contract expiration dates. Prior to your contract’s expiration, we evaluate your market to see if other less expensive haulers are available.

• We renegotiate expiring contracts. We ensure that you get the best terms available to you. We know exactly what should - and should not - be in a new contract, and we make sure that’s exactly what you get.

• We handle the negotiate process for new contracts. If a better, less expensive vendor becomes available at the right time, we handle all the negotiations and make sure you get the ideal contract terms.

So on top of the 10-30% reduction in waste expenses every month, companies can continue to expect support to solve and prevent future waste disposal problems.

Put waste savings on auto-pilot.

Having a waste ally allows you to find waste savings automatically. During the initial audit period, we require minimal documents and interaction with your team.

Our thorough review happens entirely off-site, and we continually review your account for more savings opportunities.

The entire process maximizes your resources. We protect your time and your investment in the review process, and our results are reliable - 90% of companies we work with see a reduction in waste expenses.

What questions do you have about putting your waste savings on auto-pilot?

5 Signs of a Great Contract {Infographic}

Chances are that reviewing your waste contract is not at the top of your list of priorities today. But thanks to the infographic below, you can easily review your waste contract to determine whether you’re overpaying.

90% of companies nationwide are overspending on their waste and recycling disposal expenses. Much of this occurs because their contracts make it easy for their haulers to make excess profits.

If you ensure that your contract has the specifications below, you’re far less likely to overspend.

These clauses are the ones we ensure each of our clients have. They’re the most critical specifications that your contract needs, and they’re the the ones that most business don’t have. (Short on time? Talk to us right now - just sign up for a free, no obligation consult to talk about your waste concerns. 15 minutes is all it takes).

Have you ever heard of these contract specifications? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

How to Turn Recurring Waste Cost Into Recurring Waste Savings

You can turn your recurring waste costs into recurring waste savings.

How? Delegate your waste management process to an independent reviewer.

Delegation is critical to your success as a leader. After all, as Eli Broad put it, “The inability to delegate is one of the biggest problems I see with managers at all levels.”

Delegation lets you pour more of your energy and time into big-impact priorities. For most people, trash simply does not fall into that category.

This is why one of the key components of our model intentional takes waste management off of your plate. You have better things to do. So do your staff.

Delegating the your waste management to a waste consultant means that you and your staff won’t have to:

• constantly review invoices for billing errors

• try to find new ways to save

• waste hours at a time with hauler customer service.

• get trapped in an ineffective contract.

Most companies in the US are doing exactly this, and they don’t realize there’s a better way. They don’t know what they don’t know. They also don’t realize how much capital they’re losing on a yearly basis because of poor quality contracts and service.

Leave waste management to the experts.

Covid hasn’t given more companies extra resources - it’s drained them. You and your staff may be up to your eyeballs in crises and are just trying to stay afloat.

You can protect your time by delegating things that aren’t urgent. And you can protect your resources by ensuring your waste management is always cost-effective and effective. When companies bring us on to review and monitor their waste management, we:

• Ensure they’re paying fair rates.

• Prevent future price hikes

• Periodically review less expensive service options

• Review invoices for errors.

• Ensure your service frequency and equipment is cost-effective

The result? You pay the best rates for the best service. And when things do go wrong (when service is missed, or when there are billing issues), we handle them on your behalf.

In fact, this is one of the things that our clients most appreciate about us. Customer service issues can be tiresome and frustrating. We know who to call and what to say in order to get your issues resolved quickly and fairly - and we’ve done it for the past 18 years.

You need a waste ally - someone who knows the industry and can show you where your savings opportunities are. You don’t need to have the time or expertise to do it yourself. You can delegate the entire process to a trusted industry expert.

Future Savings Opportunities are Never Missed.

After your initial review process is completed, we continue to periodically review your account for other savings opportunities.

• We track all contract expiration dates. Prior to your contract’s expiration, we evaluate your market to see if other less expensive haulers are available.

• We renegotiate expiring contracts. We ensure that you get the best terms available to you. We know exactly what should - and should not - be in a new contract, and we make sure that’s exactly what you get.

• We handle the negotiate process for new contracts. If a better, less expensive vendor becomes available at the right time, we handle all the negotiations and make sure you get the ideal contract terms.

So on top of the 10-30% reduction in waste expenses every month, companies can continue to expect support to solve and prevent future waste disposal problems.

Put waste savings on auto-pilot.

Having a waste ally allows you to find waste savings automatically. During the initial audit period, we require minimal documents and interaction with your team.

Our thorough review happens entirely off-site, and we continually review your account for more savings opportunities.

The entire process maximizes your resources. We protect your time and your investment in the review process, and our results are reliable - 90% of companies we work with see a reduction in waste expenses.

What questions do you have about putting your waste savings on auto-pilot?

5 Easy Waste Tips That Will Reduce Your Waste Expenses

If you take the time to do even one of these steps, you’ll save money on your waste expense in the long run.

Most companies have waste problems they just don’t know about. Their contracts are poor quality, their equipment is inefficient, and their service levels are inaccurate.

But the tips below will address each of these issues and help you stop overspending.

1. Track your contract expiration date.

2. Eliminate your auto-renewal clause.

3. See if you can lower your service levels.

4. Ask your hauler for pricing options on other equipment.

5. Get a waste review.

The little extra bit of time it will take to put these tips into action can translate into thousands of dollars in savings.

Track your contract expiration date.

Most companies don’t know when their contract expires and they let their contract renew under the same terms they currently have. You should only allow this to happen if you know for a fact that your contract terms are stellar (spoiler alert: most aren’t).

If you don’t know your contract expiration date, you won’t have time to evaluate your services. You won’t have time to see if other haulers have less expensive prices. And you won’t save what you could have saved.

Eliminate your auto-renewal clause.

This tip goes hand in hand with the one above. You need to know when your current terms of service expire, but you also need to cancel your auto-renewal clause.

Most contracts have this clause. It allows your services to renew for another contract term. But, as we mentioned above, most contract terms aren’t great. They’re costing you. If your contract renews, they’ll keep costing you - sometimes for an additional five year term!

When you cancel your auto-renewal clause, you don’t have to renew services with your current waste disposal provider. You can, but only if you are assured that your bottom line is protected and that your contract will include all the clauses it needs to do so.

See if you can lower your service levels.

We estimate that 70% of companies get too much service. The reason is simple - the more you get garbage service, the more you get charged.

If your dumpsters are half empty when they are serviced, you’re getting too many pick-ups. See if you can reduce your service days, or the number of pick-ups. This is one of the easiest ways to start saving almost immediately.

If you get charged $100 for each pick up, and you get service four times a week, you’re paying $400 each week. But you may only actually need two of those pick-ups. That’s $200 a month ($2400 a year!) that you could be saving!

Making this change can easily save you thousands of dollars in the long run.

Ask your hauler for pricing options on other equipment.

If you have the space capability, you may be able to get larger dumpsters. This can translate into fewer pickups, thus saving you on waste expenses.

Ask your hauler what kinds of equipment options they offer, and then ask your representative to come up with quotes for different service levels on each. You may very likely pay less for smaller dumpsters or fewer pickups, but the exact amount will differ based on what you hauler charges for pickups and equipment.

Get a waste review.

A waste review is a thorough analysis of every waste stream at every location in your portfolio. It’s typically completed by an independent waste reviewer, someone who is not affiliated with the haulers and is thus more naturally aligned with your interests.

As experts in the waste industry, our zero risk audit can only help you save. This review has a 90% success rate and it’ll find where you’re overspending and show you the exact steps to take in order to protect your bottom line.

How much could this waste equipment help you save?

When waste service is first set up, waste haulers tend to be less than thorough in their assessment of equipment needs.

They tend to estimate what they think your facility or location needs, and that’s what gets inked on the contract.

And unfortunately, they rarely re-evaluate over the term of your contract. Which is a real shame, because your needs at a particular location may change over time. The equipment you needed two years ago may not be the same equipment you need now.

In this post, you’ll learn how these types of waste equipment can help you save:

• Front load dumpsters

• Compactors

These are common types of waste equipment, and many commercial and residential sites have them. But they have to be used correctly in order to maximize your savings opportunities.

How to save on your waste spend with front load dumpsters.

Front load dumpsters come in several sizes. In order to know which ones to use, you need a third party reviewer to evaluate your waste output.

When we review waste streams for our clients, we assess how much waste you’re really putting out. We ask your site manager(s) whether your dumpsters are completely full when serviced. We estimate that 70% of US companies get too many pick-ups, so it’s likely you fall into that category.

We help some companies cut costs simply by reducing the number of times they are serviced each week.

But we’re able to help other companies by finding the best equipment and service solution for them. For some companies this means:

• Getting bigger dumpsters with fewer pickups

• Getting smaller dumpsters with more pickups

• Alternating the days of pickups for sets of dumpsters

We’ve found this comprehensive approach typically finds our clients savings.

Compactors can reduce your waste spend.

Compactors are a great solution for high-volume trash generators. Residential complexes and restaurants are typically among them.

• Residential complex - Groups of residents generate lots of trash. If the multi-family complex is big enough, it can benefit from a compactors. Instead of paying for multiple pick-ups weekly (or daily) a compactor can reduce service to once or twice a month in some cases.

• Restaurants - Wet food waste can be smelly, and large amounts of it can be difficult to contain. A compactor solves both of these problems. It can contain the waste more effectively, making it harder for critters to access the trash. A compactor will also compress the trash so that fewer pickups are necessary from your service provider.

Compactors require a significant up-front investment in order to install, but they can significantly reduce your waste costs over time if your properties generate lots of trash.

Waste dumpsters and compactors may solve your waste disposal problems.

When used effectively, compactors and dumpsters can reduce your waste spend over time. In order to tell how best to use each piece of equipment, you need a thorough waste review. It will help you protect your resources and more efficiently manage your waste streams and processes.

What equipment do you use at your locations? How have they helped you save?

Free Access: Mini E-Course, "Your 5 Hidden Waste Problems"

When was the last time you heard someone complain about their waste contract? Probably never, right?

This is because most people don’t see the waste problems right under their own nose.

They don’t know they have hidden waste problems - and chances are that you’re one of them.

This is exactly why we created this free mini course. We spell out exactly what you should look for to save.

These issues can steal thousands of dollars from your bottom line, but they can absolutely be prevented.

This course is the first of its kind and is designed for busy professionals who want to save on their company’s waste expenses.

Why this free course is necessary

90% of companies nationwide are overspending on waste by 10-30% every month. Why? Because they don’t know how they’re overspending.

Not many people have the time or expertise to carefully review their waste and recycling contracts before they sign them. You have more important things to do during your day, right?

And even fewer people know what to look for on those contracts - and when they’re hiring a hauler, or renegotiating a current contract.

But there’s another reason these problems are hidden. It’s because most haulers are not going out of their way to charge fairly and set up honest contracts. Haulers are out to make a profit, and they will sometimes go to extremes to ensure they retain your business.

In the course, we talk about how having automatic renewal clauses makes it difficult for you to change vendors. We talk about how not capping price hikes will make you overpay. We talk about how you actually aren’t required to pay ancillary fees.

We take a behind the scenes look at how haulers try to pull fast ones. And we show you what you can do about it.

How this course is delivered

One section of this 7-part course is delivered to your email inbox every three days. At the end of the course, you’ll receive a link with access to all of the videos and additional PDFs so that you can easily and permanently access the course.

This course is:

• Easy. We break down concepts and make it clear how each problem can impact your bottom line.

• Convenient. We’ll email you once every three days, so you can view the videos at your convenience. No rush, and no deadlines.

• Completely free. We’ve distilled 18 years of waste experience in this course and you can access it all for free.

And if you sign up right now, we’ll include an additional free PDF with even more savings tips!

Click here to sign up >>

How We're Using Data to Help You Save Even More

We talk a lot around here about dumpsters, pickups, and service schedules.

If you’ve been following us for any length of time, you probably know that most US companies get too much service, and that most of them have no idea.

But what you may not know is that we now have a new way to quantify what we know by experience.

We’ve recently partnered with Compology, a company that collects data on dumpster usage. They’ve created special cameras to measure data from inside the dumpster. 

Why is this so important? Because our clients stand to save even more.

Compology’s dumpster cameras give us the following data:

• How many actual pickups vs expected pickups

• The average fullness at pickup.

• Recent pictures of fill levels

• Contamination stats

This information helps us know what your service needs actually are - and how/if the hauler is filling those needs.

It helps us ensure you’re paying for the right service levels. It makes sure you don’t pay for pickups that didn’t happen. And it keeps us up to speed on fluctuating service needs.

Without this data on waste expenses, you’re driving blind - and you’re probably paying for it. 

Like many of you, data drives the core of what we do: help people save on their waste expenses. 

When we want to get the whole picture of a company’s waste management process, we go to the invoices and contracts. These documents tell us the details of service: how often garbage is supposed to picked up, how often a particular location gets overage fees, what equipment is onsite. They also tell us who you’re working with to get trash service, and how long you’ve contracted with the service provider. 

All of this information helps us determine where you’re overspending. 

But this traditional date plus the new data we have access to increases your waste opportunities even more.

You can save by not paying for a missed pickup that would otherwise go unnoticed. You can save when the data shows us you only need twice a week service instead of three times a week.

Better data means better savings opportunities. 

How are you optimizing data in your business?

5 Reasons Why You Should Overspend on Waste {+ Infographic} - Part 2

Incredibly, there are reasons to keep overspending on your waste and recycling expenses. Most companies in the US are overspending on their disposal services, but there are some who may prefer it that way. Below, we’ll go over the last two reasons why.

1. You like having waste problems.

2. You like to ignore relevant data.

In this series, we’re exploring all the reasons you should keep overspending by 10-30% on your waste expenses. In this blog post (part 2 of a 2-part series), we’ll look at the last two reasons.

You like having waste and recycling disposal problems.

You may actually enjoy the surprise of waste problems. You may love it when your staff tells you your hauler has missed pick-ups at a particular location for the third time this month. You not have a problem with recurring issues because you may think this is normal.

Additionally, you may not have a problem devoting the time and energy needed to resolve these situations. You may have lots of spare time to call your hauler, wait on hold for 20 minutes and then have a customer service rep tell you that they can’t help and that you’ll need to get in touch with your account manager. You may have the expertise to know who to navigate hauler customer “service” departments, but most people don’t.

And, more importantly, they don’t have the time to waste. Do you?

You like to ignore relevant data.

Take a look below - these are the stats we’ve found after 18 years of service in the waste industry. Bottom line? Most companies are overspending, and they have no idea. Don’t be one of them.

If you have the resources to make your hauler rich, you should keep overspending on your waste expenses. If you don’t mind having inefficient waste and recycling services and equipment, you’ll almost certainly keep overspending. And if you don’t want to take advantage of professional expertise, you can keep paying more than you need to for expenses.

But if these reasons aren’t true of you - if you value your resources and your time - then you can chose to stop overspending on waste expenses.

Are there other reasons to keep overspending on waste? Let me know in the comments below!

Profit Margins Getting You Down? Three Ways We Make Your Company More Efficient: Part 3

The pandemic has stretched all of us thin.

Many business have seen a concerning dip in profit margins and revenue. How can businesses keep growing during this tumultuous time? How can businesses cut expenses and stabilize?

One of the best ways businesses can cut expenses is by having their waste spend reviewed.

There are three reasons this little-known resource can help:

1. You’re probably overspending in ways you don’t even know about.

2. Recurring expenses can translate into recurring savings opportunities.

3. Our waste reviews reliably yield savings.

Let’s take a look at each of these reasons.

First, you’re likely overspending on your waste spend.

90% of US companies are doing this exact thing, and they have no idea. This is because the industry has normalized things like prices spikes, ancillary fees, and long term lengths. Most contracts, for instance, don’t include terms that will actually protect you from price spikes. They don’t prohibit ancillary fees, which then show up every month on your invoices. And they tend to lock people into contract terms that are too long.

You don’t have to be one of these companies.

These hidden problems don’t have to stay hidden. You can get an industry expert on your side who will make sure you stop overspending.

Second, recurring expenses can translate into recurring savings opportunities.

You’ll always have waste expenses; that can’t be helped. But if you pay too much for them, you’re going to pay too much by a lot because they recur every month.

Suppose you spend $2000 every month at one location for waste expenses. If we are able to reduce that amount by $500, that’s not a one-time reduction. It will happen on every waste bill until you get a new hauler or until service requirement significantly change.

So that $500 reduction can turn into a $6000 reduction in a year. It can turn into a $12,000 reduction over two years. It can turn into a $30,000 reduction over the term of a five year contract. Who wouldn’t want that kind of boost to their bottom line?

Third, our waste reviews have a high rate of success.

We typically find savings 90% of the time for our clients. These savings average out to be a 10-30% reduction in monthly waste expenses.

Over the 20 years we’ve been in business, we have honed our audit process to be effective and efficient. It’s worked for hundreds of companies and it can work for you too.

You can find out for sure if you’re sitting on savings for free. Our initial audit process requires zero capital outlay. We are entirely self-funded until we find savings. Then, we’re paid out of those savings at a rate of 50%.

If we don’t find savings you owe us nothing. You can find out if you’re overspending without taking on any risk at all.

What other benefits could a waste review afford you during this time? Let us know in the comments below!

5 Reasons Why You Should Overspend on Waste - Part 1

As strange as it sounds, there are in fact some solid reasons to overspend on waste.

But for the majority of companies nationwide (the actual number hovers in the 90% range), these reasons aren’t actually applicable. These reasons aren’t actually good reasons to overspend! Why would you chose not to save money? Most companies simply don’t realize they’re overspending.

There are 5 reasons why you should overspend on your waste and recycling disposal expenses.

1. You can afford to make your waste hauler rich

2. You love inefficiency.

3. You don’t like to delegate to experts.

4. You like having waste problems.

5. You like to ignore relevant data.

In this series, we’ll explore all the reasons you should keep overspending by 10-30% on your waste expenses. In this blog post (part 1 of a 2-part series), we’ll look at reasons 1-3.

You can afford to make your waste hauler rich

You may be one of the few companies out there who has excess funds. You may be flush with extra revenue, so how much you pay for waste services at all of your locations isn’t of concern to you. You may not have to worry about budget forecasts or balancing the books at the end of the month.

And if you do have excess funds, you may have already decided to allocate them to overpriced waste expenses. You can afford to spend whatever the waste companies charge you. (An aside: most hauler contracts are designed to allow indiscriminate price hikes, so most companies pay more than they should for expenses incurred over the term of their contract.)

Or, you may just enjoy overspending. Maybe you like the idea of helping your chosen waste vendor become rich. You may like helping them increase profits by paying extraneous fees. You may enjoy the sudden price hikes that add to their bottom line.

But chances are, this isn’t true.

You love waste service and equipment inefficiency.

You may love knowing that you’re likely one of the 70% of companies who are being over-serviced by their trash vendor. You may enjoy getting too many pick-ups every week at your locations. After all, who doesn’t love paying for services they don’t need?

These extra pick-up only benefit one person - and it’s not you. Your hauler is likely incentivized to make additional pickups because more pickups almost always mean more revenue. When was the last time you heard of a hauler voluntarily reducing their service frequency?

Additionally, you may like leaving equipment inefficiency to chance. You may be satisfied with inefficient waste and service levels. (50% of companies have too much or too little waste equipment.) You may prefer not to have an expert review your current waste management process for redundant equipment or ineffective waste equipment.

You don’t like to delegate to experts.

You may think you have the resources to complete your own waste review. And some people are able to complete a cursory review on their own! But most CEOs and COOs don’t have the expertise it takes to do their own waste analysis. Waste reviews are not simple processes to complete. It can be difficult to know where to begin, what exactly to assess, and how to assess your current process in general.

And if they do have the expertise, it’s likely they don’t have the time. We provide our clients the two things they need most - a professional waste assessment or review, but with very little demand for their time. (Our reviews are almost always 100% remote). We’ve been doing waste reviews for the past 18 years, and we know how to find your hidden waste problems and solve them - for good!

You can keep overspending on waste . . . but you don’t have to.

We provide our clients the two things they need most - a professional waste assessment or review, but with very little demand for their time. If you don’t mind having inefficient waste and recycling services and equipment, you’ll almost certainly keep overspending. And if you don’t want to take advantage of professional expertise, you can keep paying more than you need to for expenses.

But if these reasons aren’t true of you - if you value your resources and your time - then you can chose to stop overspending on waste expenses.

Are there other reasons to keep overspending on waste? Let me know in the comments below!

Staffing Troubles Getting You Down? Three Ways We Make Your Company More Efficient: Part 2

If you’re like most companies right now, you’re either are having or have recently had staffing shortages.

With so many businesses closed down or operating for limited hours, many employee’s positions were either eliminated altogether or reduced in scope. Unemployment nationally has decreased since April of this year, but the economy (and the workforce) is still trying to recover.

Even if you haven’t struggled with staffing issues, you and your team may likely find yourself stretched thinner than you were before. There may not seem like there’s enough people to address issues or complete routine tasks.

So how can you free up some of your staff’s time? Or, to put it another way, how can you help them make the most of the time they have?

Consider delegating waste management and service issues to a waste expert. This will help your staff:

• Free up some of their time each month

• Focus on more urgent priorities

• Protect their time in the future

With many business still trying to maintain equilibrium, offloading the unnecessary tasks your staff have to handle could be one of the best choices you make during this on-going pandemic.

Bringing in a waste expert can free up your staff’s time.

Waste problems can be difficult to see and solve. Not every waste issues is immediately apparent - some may be lurking on your invoices, unnoticed. It takes a certain amount of expertise and experience to find them.

On top of that, it can take dedication and time to completely resolve them. Waste haulers are, unfortunately, not known for their customer service. We find that it can take repeated calls and emails to get an issue addressed depending on the hauler. We also have found that it’s sometimes necessary to escalate an issue through management if issues are not resolved. We keep contact information on hand so that if this happens, we know who to call.

All of this takes time that your staff likely doesn’t have right now.

If your staff are already struggling to get done everything they need to accomplish, they need fewer things to do, not more.

Delegating all customer service issues to industry experts like us ensures that your staff’s time is not needlessly consumed.

Help your staff use their time effectively.

Without having to resolve hauler customer service issue, your staff can devote more of their time to other more urgent priorities.

After all, your likely weren’t hired to manage haulers. They have other things to do that are more important than spending hours on the phone trying to get your waste vendors to clean up a mess, or to come back once more and pick up trash at a forgotten location.

One other consideration: during the pandemic, your staff may have taken on other additional responsibilities. They may be devoting more of their time to other projects, giving them even less time to take on administrative or vendor issues.

As employees struggle to juggle different tasks, you may find that you may be called in to help. You may need to fill in a shift here and there. You may have to jump in on projects to aid them to completion. You can protect your time by protecting your staff’s time.

Freeing up some of your staff’s time will allow them to focus more on critical responsibilities; not secondary ones. In a season when everyone is stretched thin, delineating between priorities is a absolutely necessary.

Support your staff (and protect your own time) by delegating waste issues to industry experts who have your best interest in mind.

Protect everyone’s time now and in the future.

You don’t know what waste disposal problems you may have down the road. You may need to make immediate or significant changes to your waste service schedule, or you may have a massive billing error. Navigating these issues with your hauler will almost certainly take up your time or your staff’s time. But it doesn’t have to.

Regardless of what happens, you can rest assured that you can continue protecting your time by having a waste ally on your side. Delegating waste issues to an expert will ensure that no matter what issues arise in the future, you’ll have a dependable source of support to address them.

Protect your staff by getting a waste review. It’s a dependable, proven way to protect your time, your staff’s time, and ultimately, your bottom line.

How could a waste review protect your time? Let us know in the comments below!