We provided you with our portfolio and you were able to reduce our waste disposal expenses by over 25% as a direct result of your knowledge, industry contracts and tireless efforts.”
Rik Maxey, Community Management Corp
Can a waste audit really help you? Will it save you 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 post, 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.
Ready? Let's dive in.
“I could have hidden waste disposal problems.”
About 90% of companies are overspending on waste and they have no idea. After 18 years in the business, we have found that most companies overpay in one of the five following ways:
1. Your contract allows price spikes.
Most haulers count on price hikes to increase their revenue. They go above and beyond the cost of servicing your account. We’ve seen haulers raise prices as much as four times a year at a 5-10% increase. These incremental increases add up.
Your current waste contracts almost certainly allow for this unless someone on your team has proactively added language limiting or prohibiting them.
2. Your service levels and equipment are inefficient.
Your waste equipment comprises every waste and recycling receptacle serviced by your hauler. The efficiency of your waste equipment has a direct impact on your waste spend.
If you don’t have the equipment you truly need, or if you have too much equipment, you’ll overpay. About 70% of the clients we’ve worked with in the past 18 years have been serviced too frequently!
Rhonda Cummons of Presbyterian Homes found herself in this exact position not too long ago.
Every month, Rhonda was paying for too many trash pickups - something we quickly put a stop to. This contributed to a 22% reduction in waste expenses!
And in January 2021, we helped a multi-family complex save an average of $3200 every year just by replacing their on-call waste dumpster with an 8 yard dumpster that gets bi-weekly service.
3. You don’t know market rates for waste and recycling services. Haulers know you’re not likely to consult with the restaurant across the street when you set up your service contract.
They know that you’re not going to ask that restaurant what their disposal rate is, or how often they get price spikes.
They also know that you don’t know what other area haulers are charging, and so you can’t know if they’re overcharging you. This is exactly what allows price gouging to happen. If you’re in the dark about hauler pricing, how can you tell what is fair?
4. You’re paying ancillary invoice fees. Most waste invoices include several ancillary fees. Most standard contracts neither limit nor eliminate these fees.
With our assistance, the majority of our clients pay a reduced fuel fee and administrative fee on their contract. Case in point - Rhonda Cummons! Not only did we reduce pick-ups, but we eliminated every additional fee on their contracts.
This contributed to her gross saving of $25,000 on her yearly waste expenses. What could you do with an extra $25,000?
5. Your contract automatically renews.
Waste needs often change over time, and waste service levels may need adjusting. About 95% of waste contracts we’ve seen include automatic renewal of contract terms.
When we cancel the auto-renewal clauses for our clients, it allows us the opportunity to find better pricing with another hauler or to renegotiate new contracts with your current hauler.
We recently did this for a multi-family management corporation called Camso. Two of their locations had a faulty contract that not only included an automatic renewal clause, but it allowed for indiscriminate price increases.
Cancelling these clauses will help us ensure they are always with their ideally-priced vendor.
Could you have one or more of these hidden waste problems?
Most companies are overspending, and you don’t have to be one of them. Which of these hidden problems do you think you might have?
Learn more about your hidden waste problems for free - sign up for our video mini e-course and we’ll show you how you can save!