Industrial Waste Services

Waste Cost Reduction

Most sites try to reduce waste management costs by asking their supplier for a better rate. It is the obvious move and usually the weakest one, because the rate is rarely what drives the invoice. What drives it is how the material presents: what it is classified as, how well it is separated, how much air is in the container, how often that container is emptied, and whether anything in it could have been reused. Those are all on your side of the fence, and they move the number further than a percentage off a gate fee.

Packaging Reuse would rather measure than quote a percentage. Send us twelve months of notes and an invoice, and we will show you where the money is going. Call 0161 848 0976 or get in touch.

What actually drives your waste costs?

Four things set the cost of any waste stream, and only one is negotiable with a supplier:

Classification: whether a stream is hazardous waste decides the paperwork, the carrier, the facility and the gate fee. It is the single biggest multiplier on the invoice.
Bulk density: waste is moved by volume and charged by weight, so a container of uncut mouldings or loose cardboard is mostly air you pay to move.
Contamination: one contaminated item can reclassify a whole container, so the higher rate applies to all of it.
Frequency and volume: a container emptied on a calendar rather than when it is full is a scheduled payment for moving very little.
The rate: the fifth thing, and the one everybody starts with.

Send us your invoice and your notes, and we will tell you which of these is costing you most.

How we reduce your waste costs

We start by measuring rather than quoting: twelve months of transfer and consignment notes, your invoices and a look at how material comes off the line show the total cost of waste on the site, which usually is not where people expect. Then the levers come with numbers attached, in the order they tend to pay. Getting the classification right stops you consigning non-hazardous material as hazardous on every collection, and our chemist settles that at a waste audit. Separating at source turns a mixed cost back into a clean stream with a market, which is also the Simpler Recycling duty for workplaces in England with 10 or more full-time staff. Dealing with the air, by baling cardboard and film and cutting bulky offcuts down, changes what fits on a vehicle and can take a collection off the schedule. Right-sizing containers and frequency stops you paying to move half-empty bins. Reusing a drum or IBC that passes inspection beats buying new and paying to dispose of the old one. Only then does the route matter, moving a stream from disposal to recovery or from recovery to genuine recycling. Where your current arrangement is already sound, we say so.

Call 0161 848 0976 for a look at your total cost of waste.

Waste cost reduction questions

How much can we realistically save?

How much you can realistically save depends entirely on the starting point, which is why we would rather look than quote a percentage. A site that has never reviewed its waste, consigns non-hazardous material as hazardous or pays to move air has a great deal to gain, while a site with well-described, well-separated streams and right-sized containers has little left. The audit tells you which you are before anyone proposes anything.

Is it cheaper to recycle or to dispose of waste?

Recycling is usually cheaper than disposal for clean, separated material, because you avoid landfill tax and the material may carry value. It is not automatically cheaper for mixed or contaminated waste, where sorting costs more than it recovers. Segregation is what makes recycling the cheaper option, rather than recycling being cheap in itself.

Will reducing waste volume actually reduce the invoice?

Reducing waste volume only reduces the invoice if the containers and the frequency change with it. Halving what you produce while keeping the same container on the same weekly schedule changes nothing on the bill, which is why waste reduction and the collection schedule need reviewing together.

Do we need a waste audit first?

A waste audit is not strictly required, but it is the cheapest way to find out where the money is going, because most sites hold an invoice rather than a breakdown and you cannot reduce a cost you have not measured. Some of what an audit finds is fixable in-house without changing supplier at all.

Does cutting waste cost help sustainability reporting?

Cutting waste cost usually helps sustainability reporting, because segregation and reuse improve both the figure and the bill. The one caution is in the reporting itself: energy recovery counted as recycling will not survive an auditor’s question, so a lower number you can evidence is worth more than a higher one you cannot.

Talk to us about your total cost of waste

If you are trying to cut waste costs by chasing a lower rate while the streams stay mis-classified and mixed, the driver is going untouched. Send us a description of what your site produces, twelve months of notes and an invoice, and we will show you the levers with numbers on them. Call 0161 848 0976 or get in touch with Packaging Reuse.