Five Ways Your Waste Hauler is Ripping You Off

Most people don’t give much thought to their waste management. But if they did, they would likely realize how much they’re overspending on waste - and how much it’s costing them in lost time. 

The waste industry is designed to trap you into paying way too much for terrible services.

They don’t want you to know the ins and outs of your contract. They don’t want you to start asking uncomfortable questions about how exactly they get away with charging what they charge. 

Because if you did, you might see their tactics for what they are - indifferent at best and outright dishonest at worst. 

The waste industry is unfair to you, their clients, in five ways. Most haulers would love for you to believe that you have to accept:

1. Price hikes

2. Ancillary fees

3. Awful Contract Terms

4. Automatic Renewal of Your Contract

5. Terrible Service

And its just not true! There are options when it comes to your waste management. You rarely have to accept your contract as written. In fact, there’s specific language you can put in your contract to prevent or limit all of the examples above. 

Learn more about your top 5 hidden waste problems here!!

Unfair Price Hikes Happen with No Warning

It isn’t fair to be on the receiving end of surprise price hikes. You should be notified ahead of time - and what you’re charged shouldn’t be exorbitant. 

Most waste haulers don’t warn you prior to an increase in fees. There are some exceptions - if disposal sites mandate an increase in fees, a hauler may let you know. Unfortunately, this isn’t typical industry practice.

This in itself is a pretty shady business practice. What would happen if your Hulu or Netflix subscription increased by $50 a month overnight? This is exactly what haulers do on a regular basis.

A hauler can increase their rates as much as four times a year and up to ten percent each time. 

This means if you’re paying a $1000 a month for waste disposal, you could be paying up to $1400 a month by the end of the year. 

Price hikes can make it nearly impossible to budget for waste expenses. By proactively limiting them in your contract, you’ll be able to plan for future costs with accuracy - while saving capital.

Haulers Let You Think You Have to Pay All Ancillary Waste Fees

The waste industry is designed to pass on as much of their operating cost to you as possible. Most haulers, unfortunately, are going to charge you and any other companies on their route as much as they can. Ancillary fees are one of the main ways haulers do this.

There are dozens of waste fees, but you’re most likely to be charged for fuel or environmental fees. They’ll be listed on your invoice and will look like this: 

Most people don’t realize they can limit these waste fees. Before you sign a contract, make sure it has a clause that caps these fees to a certain percentage. You aren’t going to have a lot of luck changing your contract mid-term - haulers just don’t have the incentive to do something they know will cost them. 

It’s not fair for haulers to use what you don’t know against you. You shouldn’t have to pay a fee if you don’t have to. 

Most haulers know that their clients aren’t going to question what they’re paying and why they’re paying it - they’re just going to do it. 

But there’s no reason for you to be part of the 95% of companies out there who are overpaying. 

Don’t patently accept your ancillary fees. Prevent or cap them in your contract and you’ll could save hundreds or even thousands over the long run. 

Contract Terms Are Designed to Trap You

How difficult it is for you to get out of your contract? It’s probably more difficult than you think.

Most haulers require that you send a certified letter within a very specific time frame prior to the end of your contract. Most contracts require that you give 90-180 days notice if the standard clause is intact.

If you send it too early, it’s null. If you send it too late, you’re out of luck. And heaven forbid you email them - you have to take the time to take it to the post office. 

On top of that, you’ll have an termination fee. Most of the time this termination fee is the average of the most recent 6 invoices X 6. So if you pay $1000 a month, you’ll owe your hauler $6000. This may sound like a lot but for many companies, this is actually the less expensive option in the long run. 

You need to make sure your contract is relatively simple to terminate. (If you already have signed a contract, make a note of when your contract ends and what you’ll have to do to end it - and read the next section carefully!)

Bad Waste Hauler Contracts Automatically Renew

Most contracts will automatically renew. If you don’t give notice within a narrow window of time, you will be stuck a new contract you didn’t want! 

Suppose your hauler keeps missing pick-ups, and you’ve realized you’re nearing the end of your contract and you want to terminate. You give your hauler rep a call to let them know, but they tell you - surprise!  - your contract has already been renewed. There was no notice, no email, no phone call. You now have a new three year contract with a hauler you can’t stand. 

No one should have to go through that!

It’s not fair for you to be trapped in a contract if you want to terminate it. This is exactly why we review your contract terms in our thorough waste audits - and every other critical part of your waste and recycling streams!

Haulers Aren’t Going to Protect You Against Their Terrible Services

Haulers don’t often make service provisions a standard part of their contracts. This means that if you want to have recourse when trash keeps getting strewn across your location, you need to shore up your contract.

Make sure that there are clear consequences for missed services, or service that is poorly performed. For example, you may want to add a provision about how quickly they will come if you call for an extra pick-up or a provision for cancelling without penalty if they consisently do not perform. 

If there isn’t a consequence; it’s more likely that haulers will be less careful about the way they service your locations. 

You Don’t Have to Be Ripped Off By Your Hauler

Haulers are not going to show you how a compactor could save you $80,000 in the next five years.

They’re not going to tell you that you don’t actually need service 5 times a week. They’re not going to tell you that getting a cardboard baler can help you save money by adding a revenue stream. They’re not going to disclose that you can reduce your costs by requesting that each of your five dumpsters at a certain location get picked up at a different frequency. 

We will.

Schedule a free, no-obligation consultation today to learn more about your savings opportunities!

3 Reasons Why Solving Waste Issues is a Waste of Your Time

Your time is valuable, so one of the best things you can do is proactively protect it. 

Solving waste issues is a waste of time because

1. They don’t actually solve anything

2. You’re not paid to solve endless loops of waste issues

3. It steals time from other projects

It’s important to invest in your waste management process. Unless you have solid waste disposal strategies, problems are going to keep coming back. 

Let’s learn how to optimize your solution methods is critical - you, your staff and your bottom line will all stand to benefit. 

Waste Solutions Aren’t Always Long-Term Fixes

Any solutions that aren’t built into your contract are shaky ones. 

We can’t change the fact that oftentimes waste haulers often have lousy customer service. But we make sure our clients have peace of mind by controlling price hikes, limiting ancillary fees, and making service provisions. 

If you have bad service, but your contract doesn’t have a service provision clause, you won’t have much recourse when your hauler strews garbage all across your parking lot for the third time this month. You may convince him to come back and clean up his or her mess, but they don’t have much incentive to stop doing it. 

If you receive a surprise price hike, it’s unlikely your hauler will listen to your complaints unless you can point to language on your contract that specifically prohibits them. 

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And honestly, sometimes what you don’t know is used against you. If you don’t know how the hauler industry works, it can be hard to fight an inaccurate billing error (which, by the way, happen about 10% of the time). It can be difficult to make a case for fair pricing for your company if you don’t really know what’s fair. 

Just two months ago, one of our clients’ haulers got a 900% price hike and insisted it was normal. We successfully confronted the hauler because we knew this is not an typical industry price hike. It took quite a few phone calls, but it was a burden the client didn’t have to handle on their own. 

Once your contract includes language that protects your interests - and your time - you can use it to show the hauler that they can’t leave trash on the grounds or raise prices when they feel like it. 

The devil is in the details - make sure your contract is airtight. And when all else fails, having some insider industry knowledge can really come in handy!

Your Aren’t Paid to Babysit Your Waste Hauler

It can take an extraordinary amount of time to resolve waste issues. You may wait on hold for the better part of an hour, then speak to someone who is cagey about getting quick resolution to the problem - or who may insist that it’s not a problem at all. Then the solution might not work, or may take so long to put in place it’s caused other problems! 

You and your staff aren’t paid to solve endless loops of waste issues.

Unless your job description is “Hauler Intermediary” if you’re spending more than an hour or two a month resolving trash issues, you’re spending too much time. 

Your Time Should be Your Own

Any time spent babysitting your hauler is time taken away from other projects and priorities. If you weren’t problem solving trash issues, what else could you be doing? Responding to client issues? Evaluating budgets? 

Your time shouldn’t be infringed on by poor service issues. You shouldn’t have to constantly be distracted by waste issues - small or large.  

Resolving Waste Issues Permanently is Critical

Stop the endless cycle of waste issues! Evaluate and permanently fix your contract so that it becomes a tool in your defense - not something that hurts you. 

Insert language that limit your price hikes - this will give you fiscal stability since you’ll be able to predict waste expenses with certainty. Include clauses that limit or drastically reduce fees, and that have clear consequences for consistent poor service.  

You can’t stop haulers from being haulers. But you can make sure you have recourse when you and your company aren’t being treated fairly, which will ultimately save you time - and money. 

Why Should I Care About Overpaying for Waste Expenses?

You should care about overspending because there’s you’re doing it - and by no small margin. 

 In the seventeen years we’ve been in business, we’ve helped companies save at least 20-40% on their annual waste savings. (Tad Dolbier, for example,  is saving $6500 a month on his gross waste spend)

If you’re paying for garbage and recycling disposal, there’s a 95% chance you’re paying too much. Why pay more when you don’t have to?

Waste Hauler Contracts Make You Overpay

Waste expenses aren’t like other business expenses because they - unintentionally or otherwise - are set up to exploit profit centers. 

What’s a profit center? 

A profit center is something haulers like Waste Management or Republic use to generate revenue. The ancillary fees on your waste hauler contract, for instance, are a huge profit center. These fees are often not actually tied to covering costs - they exist in your invoice because they can. 

We regularly limit or completely eradicate these fees for all of our clients.

Any recurring fee will compound over time, so we limit it as much as we can - especially since most waste contract tend to have terms anywhere from 3-5 years! Paying a $40 fuel fee every month may not seem like that much. But over 5 years, that’s $2400 you could have saved - and that’s assuming that the fuel does not increase over those 5 years, which it most certainly will.

Download our free Waste Hauler Scorecard!

This means that unless you’ve been extraordinarily vigilant - and, in some cases, even if you have - you’re overpaying on your waste expenses. 

Pricing is also another massive profit center. 1-4 times a year, most haulers will increase their rates by as much as 10%. They can do this because your contract lets them; it doesn’t have language prohibiting or limiting price hikes. Most people don’t fight them because a) they can’t and b) they don’t notice them. Or, they do notice and think it’s normal!

But just because everyone tolerates price hikes doesn’t mean it’s a good thing! (Remember your mom saying, “If everyone you know jumped off a bridge, would you do it, too?!”)

Profit centers make it easy for waste haulers to charge you way too much for a service that, really, is pretty straightforward. 

You Can Stop Overspending on Waste

Most companies know that their waste management is really awful. They know that something is wrong, but they can’t seem to find relief from constant waste headaches. 

But you have more options than you realize! Spending a little time familiarizing yourself with your waste management will show you where your problems are - and how you can fix them. 

Take some time to conduct a basic waste audit (or learn how we conduct an extensive one!), then take a look at how to evaluate your waste hauler contract.

You can take charge of your waste and recycling disposal expenses - and you can start today!

Property Management Company saves $116,000 - Annually!

Would you like to save your company $100,000? What about over $1,000,000 in four years? 

Scott Alderman of Landura Property Management did exactly that not too long ago.

(He’s not the only one. Tad is saving $6,500 a month, and Lisa is saving $65,000 in gross savings.)

Scott was able to accomplish this even though Landura had a lot of variables. They had 4,500 units in 9 states. They had different waste vendors and lots of contracts - and bad ones at that. The logistics were complicated, to say the least. 

And, to top it all off, they were spending $440,000 on their waste spend every year. 

Scott really wanted streamlined waste management at a fairer price point. So we helped him get there. 

We did a comprehensive analysis. We looked at each location’s invoice history, the fine print of all the contracts, and area hauler pricing. We found the holes in their contracts, and found where they were being over serviced.  

We were able to help Scott find relief from waste headaches. We reduced his waste spend to $324,000 annually - a cut of 26%, or $116,000. 

His contracts were made air-tight, and his services were standardized.

“The recommendations you implemented resulted in these expenses being reduced by 25%.

Besides the savings, I appreciate the excellent communication you and your staff have given us

and the fact that you are monitoring our bills each month.”

- Scott Alderman, Landura President

We love helping companies find freedom from waste worries. Our clients become the exception to the rule - they are part of the 5% of businesses who don’t overpay on waste expenses. 

Find out more about how we share in savings with our clients (which ensures we find the most savings possible), or read more about how companies nationwide are overspending on waste - and how you can stop! 

Why Care About My Waste Expenses?

On top of everything else you’re doing, why bother looking at your waste expenses? Why should anyone pay attention to, well, garbage?

Because for most companies out there, your waste disposal has problems you don’t know about. You’re likely being overcharged for poor services. And you and your staff are wasting time on solving waste problems that should have never arisen in the first place.

Too many companies spend too much time and money trying to make their waste and recycling disposal process work for them. This may be normal, but it’s not right.

The very best thing you can do for your company when it comes to waste expenses? Call problems problems - name them for what they are.

Employing a hauler who consistently raises prices isn’t okay. Experiencing customer service failures over and over again isn’t okay. Being unable to break your contract when you really need to isn’t okay.

We’ve run into so many problems in the waste industry, but the three biggest reasons you should care about your waste disposal process are:

1. Overpriced services

2. Takes too much time to fix problems

3. The waste industry doesn’t always play fair

Monitoring your waste expenses will help you see how much these issues are affecting you and your staff on a day to day basis. And knowing more about these concerns can go a long way towards building an effective, intentional waste reduction strategy.

Reason #1: Waste Services are Too Expensive

Imagine with me for a minute. Say you and your family take a trip to the beach. You have a wonderful time digging in the sand, making sandcastles, and just relaxing. 

But a week later, you hear a story on the radio that makes you stop in your tracks. 

Just a day after you left, someone found a chest of old gold coins buried on that exact beach. There are hundreds of them - and they’re priceless. And you missed finding them!

You’d probably be a little upset: we were building sand castles on it the whole time! Why couldn’t that have been us? 

The good news is, you don’t have to miss out on savings when it comes to your waste expenses.

95% companies across all industries are sitting on thousands, even hundreds of thousands of dollars in waste savings every year - and they have no idea.

If you spend more than $10,000 annually on waste, there’s a good chance you’re sitting on savings. 

Or, to put it another way, you’re probably overspending - often by no fault of your own!

There are so many ways that your waste disposal is designed to entrap you. But for now, let’s just focus on the biggest one: your contract.

Contracts make you overpay because they don’t limit or eradicate price spikes, ancillary fees, or poor service issues. 

Price spikes will happen at least once a year, and if they’re not regulated or eliminated, they’ll just keep on happening. Year after year, these spikes compound until you’re paying an outrageous amount for something that, let’s face it, really should be simple: taking your waste to the dump. 

Ancillary fees (there are dozens of them) can compound over time, too. Paying a $40 fuel fee every month may not seem like that much. But over  5 years, that’s $2400 you could have saved. 

But fuel isn’t the only ancillary fee you may see on your invoice. You can get charged for having too much weight in your dumpsters, or too little. You can get charged to cover services in other regions, or charged for not getting paperless bills. And most people will just pay these fees. But you don’t have to!

Not having provisions for bad service can also be expensive. Suppose you have a hauler who just can’t seem to remember to make a site visit on Wednesdays. Or, suppose you have a hauler who leaves a mess every time he services your compactor.

If your contract doesn’t provide recourse for service issues, you can easily get trapped into employing a less than satisfactory hauler. And if it doesn’t regulate price hikes, you’ll be paying far more than you want for severely disappointing service. 

Waste services are designed to be exorbitant. And most people don’t realize they can and should question the way their contracts are set up. 

Reason #2: Monitoring Waste Services Takes Too Much Time

Who loves spending forty-five minutes on hold waiting to yell at your hauler? Spoiler alert - absolutely no one. You shouldn’t have to babysit your hauler to ensure that he’s going to do what he’s contractually obligated to do. 

It can take persistence and perseverance to make sure the haulers perform to your standards. 

Time is one of you and your staff’s greatest resources. If you spend a lot of it constantly course correcting your hauler, you can’t spend it on attending to other more pressing responsibilities. 

Time spent fixing service issues is time that could be spent on other projects. And that lost time can add up in unexpected ways. 

Reason #3: The Waste Industry Isn’t Fair

Most of the waste industry can get away with what it does because clients just don’t know any better. Businesses think they have to pay ancillary fees and that it’s normal to have tons of hauler issues. 

The waste industry - and the haulers especially - don’t always treat their customers like people. A lot of them have pretty shady ways of operating. They may trick you into signing contracts that are in their favor; paying the prices they want for the services they decide you should have. They don’t often give their clients the full picture of what they’re really signing up for. 

This isn’t okay. It’s not okay ethically or morally. And it’s not fair to you, the people with whom they do business.

Get a Waste Reduction Strategy

You should care about your waste because it’s costing you. It’s costing you money, time, and effort. But it’s also plain wrong. You shouldn’t be tricked just because you don’t know better.

You deserve to have waste service that actually serves you - not one that creates headaches. 

Waste worries are like ants at a picnic - the fewer the better. But because of the way contracts and pricing are set up, it’s pretty common for companies to have more than one complaint about their waste services. 

Price hikes happen without warning and seem impossible to prevent (making budgeting a nightmare). Service issues keep happening. And you (or your staff’s) are putting too much time trying to correct a situation that doesn’t seem to be getting any better. 

Small or large, headaches aren’t a good thing. It’s the same with waste worries - small problems are still problems. 

Waste disposal problems of any size can be prevented and eliminated. We want you to be well-equipped so that you can prevent waste headaches - and you can start right here! 

Use these resources to think strategically about your waste reduction efforts and methods.

• Learn how your waste contracts make you over pay

• Learn how you can stop overpaying on waste worries

• Learn how we’ve helped other companies find relief from waste worries

What questions can we answer for you? Let us know in the comments below!

How to Get a New Waste Hauler Contract

There are lots of reasons to get a different waste hauler and new contract. Maybe your services provider is awful. Or maybe you’re sick of missed pick-ups. Or maybe they raised your service fees one too many times. 

Point is, you’re done, and you’re ready to move on to greener pastures. 

Getting a new hauler can seem like a daunting process, but these step-by-step instructions below will show you exactly what to do. 

To get a new hauler you’ll need to:

1. Let your current hauler know you are terminating service (if applicable and only after determining that there are other waste hauler options in your area). 

2. Make a list of things to ask potential haulers

3. Get bids for new haulers

4. Compare bids

5. Set up a new contract

A new hauler will do a lot to eliminate your waste headaches, so it’s important to conduct a thorough search.  

See all of our resources on how to stop overspending!

Questions for Haulers

Before you do anything else, make a list of everything that bothers you about your current waste management situation. 

Do you want someone who will promptly pick up your trash? Want a contract that precludes price spikes? Whatever concerns you have, you want to make sure that they don’t become a part of your new contract going forward. 

Download our free Waste Hauler Scorecard!

Once you have a list, you can then ask potential haulers what their approach is to each of the issues you have. Whoever you partner with will need to be willing to listen to your needs and act accordingly. 

Get bids for new haulers

To find other area haulers, try googling “waste haulers near me.” Contact them and ask them to provide bids for servicing your locations. You’ll need to tell them:

• The number of locations you have

• The types of equipment at each site and their size 

• How frequently each site and equipment should get serviced

Most waste sales representatives will get back to you with estimates in under a week. 

Alternatively, you can also ask other businesses or companies in your area for recommendations. Since waste haulers can have spotty service records, it’s a really good best practice to employ someone you know has a good service record. 

You’ll want to go over your list of service issues or questions with the haulers and see what their responses are. Some may be a bit cagey about their service reliability. Others may not care to limit their price hikes. Asking questions will root out the bad apples.

Compare bids

The more bids you have, the more you can compare services and find the one that’s right for you. You’ll obviously compare prices, but you’ll also need to compare service levels. You don’t want to go with the cheapest option if they have an awful service record!

Terminate Service 

After you have found a service provider, you will need to let your current provider know that you are terminating your contract with them on a specific date. You may have to pay a termination fee (something you can find out more about on your contract), so be prepared for that in advance. 

A typical termination fee (for prior to expiration) is the average of the most recent 6 invoices X 6. So if you pay $1000 a month, you’ll owe your hauler $6000. This may sound like a lot but for many companies, this is actually the less expensive option in the long run. 

Most contracts require that you give 90-180 days notice if the standard clause is intact. Read your contract carefully to make sure that your termination notice falls within the required time allotment.

And most haulers require notice be given via certified mail and return receipt. So a simple email just isn’t going to cut it, unfortunately. 

Set up a new contract

Your new hauler will send over a service contract for you to look over. This is when you will want to insist on certain language being put in. Go back to your list of priorities, and make sure that each of them are included in your contract. 

Want to learn more about how we evaluate and fix our clients waste worries? Or how you can stop overspending on waste disposal? There are solutions to your waste worries!

How to Renegotiate Your Waste Hauler Contract: Part 2

You’ve done it! You’ve evaluated your waste hauler contract and gathered all the necessary information, so now you’re ready for the next step: the renegotiation process. A successful renegotiation process will significantly reduce your current waste problems and prevent most future ones from occurring. 

This process can be lengthy, but this post will give you an idea about what to expect and how to prepare. You’ll need to:

1. Expect Resistance 

2. Contact Your Sales Rep

3. Negotiate Fair Terms

4. Sign a New Contract

Let’s take a look at each of these below!

Want to stop overpaying for good? Download our free Guide to Reducing Your Waste Expenses!

Waste Haulers Like It When You Overspend on Waste Services

Haulers really like that they get the better end of the stick most of the time.They like that they can raise prices whenever they want. They like that it’s hard for you to get out of your contract. They like that they can get away with charging you extra fees for no reason at all. 

So they’re not going to be thrilled you got smart all of a sudden and want to shake things up. 

Most haulers will do everything they can to keep the status quo. They’re going to make it hard for you to change course and get a contract that is fair. 

But be encouraged - if you know your contract and market rates(LINK), you’ll be in a much better position to renegotiate. 

Prepare yourself for a fight, but also be prepared to compromise. 

Contact Your Waste Hauler Sales Representative

Once you have all the necessary information, get in touch with your waste hauler sales representative via a phone call. You’ll want to follow up with an email. In both pieces of communication, you’ll want to outline roughly the same points. 

What exactly you say will vary based on the situation you’re in. But consider using the email template (to be edited based on your exact situation)  below as a guide for what to ground to cover in your email (and phone call!). 

Dear Sir, 

We have contracted with you the past two years for waste removal services at (your address. While we have appreciated the consistency of service, the price hikes have been increasingly difficult to cope with, not to mention unexpected.  

That said, we would like to renegotiate our contract with you. We propose that a new one include:

• Capping price increases at 5%

• Term of 3 years

• No cancellation fees

• Removal of the auto renewal clause

We have been in touch with several area haulers, all of whom can provide the same levels of service, but at a much lower price point. 

We think the changes listed above would create a contract that is in the best interest of all involved. We’d like it to be effect at the end of next of month. 

Please consider this letter as notice of our cancellation of auto-renewal as well. 

Please contact me directly so that we can discuss the details of this matter.

Signed, 

Tony Stark  

This lets your hauler know the reasons for your dissatisfaction, and how you would like to resolve the issues. It’s polite, but it’s firm. 

It tells the hauler you mean business - and that you’ve done your homework. 

See all of our resources on how to stop overspending!

Negotiate Fair Hauler Contract Terms

This letter will result in one of two things. The hauler will either listen, or they won’t. 

If they aren’t going to listen, you’ll have to wait until your contract expires to get favorable terms. 

But if they are willing to listen, he may be open to new contract terms. He may come back with a different set of terms, or agree to part of your suggested terms. If this happens, you’ll want to carefully evaluate the offer. Don’t back down just because you’re tired of the process - make sure you and your company are getting the best terms possible!

Sign a New Waste Hauler Contract

Once you settle on terms and know which hauler you will employ, you’ll need to let your current hauler know that you intend to terminate your current contract. (If yours auto-renews and you know you want to terminate the contract, you will need to send notification of the cancellation of auto-renewal as soon as you know you have found an alternate waste vendor.)

Your new hauler will give you a new contract to sign, which will replace the old one. Make sure that there is no gap of time between when the old one starts and the new one begins! You don’t want to have garbage piling up while you wait for your new service. 

You will also want to coordinate removal of the dumpsters with your old provider. Your new waste hauler will provide their own dumpsters.

Renegotiating Your Hauler Contract is a Critical Part of Your Waste Expense Reduction Strategy

By preparing mentally and managing your expectations, you can have a successful contract renegotiation. You can have a waste contract that has terms that are fair to you, and one that prohibits the hauler from charging nonsense fees! All it takes is some research and persistent effort. 

Want to learn more about how we evaluate and fix our clients waste worries? Or how you can stop overspending on waste disposal? There are solutions to your waste worries!  

How to Renegotiate Your Waste Hauler Contract: Part 1

No one I know reads their waste hauler contract for fun. No one who finds a few hours to spare in the work week says, “You know what? I should really take an hour and look at the fine print on my contract.”

But they should - because they’re overspending.

If you devote some time to your contract, you’ll understand where you’re overspending. You’ll save your company hundreds if not thousands of dollars, and you’ll have peace of mind knowing that you’ve prevented future headaches.

You probably already know something is wrong with your waste spend. and you’ve narrowed it down to your awful contract. And you’ve realized that it’s actually better for you to stick it out with your current waste disposal provider than to get a new contract. 

Renegotiating a contract can sound tricky - but it doesn’t have to be! You’ll first need to gather some information, and then you can renegotiate fully informed. 

Prior to a renegotiation, you need to:

• Know what a good contract has in it, 

• Evaluate your own contract, 

• Decide what you want to change, 

• Know what market rates for services are. 

Set yourself up for success, and spend some time gathering some critical waste disposal information. 

See all of our resources on how to stop overspending!

Before you Begin the Renegotiation Process

You’ll need to know what your current contract length is. If your contract is a almost up, consider including some service or pricing addendum in the next contract. It’s much easier to negotiate a renewing contract than a current one. (This is also why those of you with month-to-month contracts actually have the best shot at renegotiating!)

And it’s also important to keep in mind that it’s incredibly difficult to renegotiate a contract that has quite a bit of time left in it. It’s not impossible, but it’s not something that we recommend doing. Haulers are simply not as likely to agree to new terms simply because you want them - there has to be some benefit in it for them as well. And since you’ve already signed a contract with them, they know they can just tell you “no” and go on their merry way. 

However, if your contract is about to expire, you have some leverage. The haulers know that if they don’t give you at least some of what you want, you’ll likely switch to a different provider. So they have incentive to bend a little more than they would otherwise. 

Determine if your contract is month to month. If it is you have more leverage and should get pricing from 1-2 other waste haulers if possible to determine the market pricing in your area.

Know What a Good Contract Looks Like

Most people don’t really know what a good contract includes. A good contract is one that has terms that are fair to the client as well as the hauler. 

Good contracts:

• Limit price spikes

• Has accurate service levels

• Limits ancillary fees

• Is easy to cancel

• Has provisions for poor service

A contract that includes these things will actually prevent waste headaches before they start. If you have a haulers who keeps missing pick-ups, you’ll already have a penalty in place. If a hauler tries to raise prices above a certain percentage, you can point to your contract and kindly say, “Not today, amigo.”

In short, you’ll have immediate recourse for when things do go wrong. 

Download our free Waste Hauler Scorecard!

Know What You Want to Change About Your Current Contract

Make a list of things you want to change about your current contract. Some of these things may include:

• Service levels (the number of pick-ups made by the hauler per week)

• Term (the length of the contract)

• Price Increase Caps - language that limits or eradicates price hikes

• Fee Caps - language that limits or eliminates ancillary fees.

• Auto-renewal - cancelling your auto renewal puts you in the driver’s seat when it comes to whom you entrust your waste disposal.

Now, prioritize that list. You have to be prepared to not get everything you want - especially if you’re trying to renegotiate in the middle of a term. Having clear top priorities will help you let smaller issues go, if need be. 

Know the Waste Market Prices

Even if you’re not intending to switch haulers, it can be exceedingly helpful to have a few bids from other area haulers. Some bids may be higher than your current service fees, but some are bound to be lower. 

Knowing waste market prices will give you an additional bargaining chip. Unfortunately, a lot of times haulers are banking that you don’t know what other haulers charge. If you’re blind, you’re more likely to accept the prices they’re charging you. 

But if you know market prices, you’ll have a pretty good idea about what’s fair and, well, what isn’t. 

If you know what you don’t like about your contract, what a good contract includes, and what area haulers charge, you’ll be well armed to renegotiate your contract. 

Renegotiating Your Contract Is a Critical Part of Your Waste Expense Reduction Strategy

Your contract can play a huge part in protecting you and your bottom line from waste expense increases. Renegotiating your contract can be time consuming, but you’ll reap the benefits for years to come. 

Ignoring waste problems don’t make them go away, unfortunately. Strategizing about how to stop overspending on your waste disposal and coming up with a plan of attack can yield surprising savings - and peace of mind!

Take a step towards savings: schedule a free consult today with our CEO Tyler Brunson today!

What to do About Your Terrible Waste Services

Are your waste “services” really serving you? 

Most of the folks we talk to would answer a big fat “no!” If you’re like them, your haulers can be impossible to deal with, and can leave you feeling overwhelmed and frustrated. 

A lot of people dread dealing with their waste haulers. But they don’t know what to do. 

You aren’t powerless when it comes to your waste services. This post will show you how to evaluate whether you’re overspending on your waste services. Then we’ll look at the two best options to fix your waste hauler contract - one of them is likely right for you!

How to Evaluate Your Waste Services

You can’t fix problems you don’t know about. So evaluating your waste management process by doing a basic audit will pinpoint problem areas. You’ll see the holes in your contract and current service levels. (It will also give you leg up when it comes to evaluating your equipment efficiency!)

Another really good way to evaluate your disposal process is to take a close look at your hauler contract. 95% of companies are overspending on waste - and much of that overspending stems from awful contracts. You can also look over your invoice history and see where there are suspicious price hikes. 

All of these suggestions will give you a much clearer picture about the real status of your waste disposal process. 

Download our free Waste Hauler Scorecard!

How to Fix Your Waste Services

The two main ways to fix your contract are:

1. Renegotiate with your current hauler provider

2. Get a new contract

The option you choose depends on contract stipulations, your waste spend, and your satisfaction with your service provider. 

After we run the numbers for some of our clients, we find that it actually makes more financial sense for them to stick with their current waste hauler and renegotiate their contract. But other clients have truly awful service - and that isn’t okay! So for others, we recommend they switch to a different hauler.  

How to Renegotiate A Waste Hauler Contract

Renegotiating a contract can sound tricky - but it doesn’t have to be! The most important thing is to know what your waste hauler contract specifies. You are more likely to have a successful renegotiation if you know some knowledge a head of time!

1. Determine your current term and expiration date. These facts will help you evaluate when to renegotiate your contract. If your contract will expire in six months, there’s really no reason to go forward with a negotiation.  

2. Determine if your contract auto-renews. If it does, you need to send out a notice of cancellation ASAP. If you know your contract is bad, you don’t have to stay in it! Let your hauler know that you don’t want your contract to auto-renew under its current terms. 

3. Determine if your contract is month to month. If it is, you have more leverage and should get pricing from 1-2 other waste haulers if possible to determine the market pricing in your area.

Lastly, prepare yourself for some resistance. You likely aren’t going to get everything you want from your hauler if you are in the middle of your contractual term. Be prepared to stick to your guns, but also know when to compromise.

If you are under contract you can absolutely still negotiate, but you cannot get out of it without paying liquidated damages.   Be prepared for the hauler to essentially tell you to “go play in traffic” if you are still under contract and inquire about a new term or better pricing. 

If your contract favors a renegotiation and the timing is right, move forward with the renegotiation. Get other bids for hauler service, then present the facts to your hauler. Let him know where his service and pricing is lacking, and let him know that you have received bids that undercut his prices (if this is in fact true!). Ask that he decrease his prices to a more reasonable rate - the worst he can say is no. 

If he does say no, make sure that it’s in your best interest to stay in your current contract. Does it make long-term financial sense for you to stay in this contract? If not, you consider getting a new one, as described below. 

How to Get a New Waste Hauler Contract

If you remember nothing else about this post, remember this: 

A good waste hauler contract:

• Makes provisions for bad service

• Reduces, regulates, or eliminates ancillary fees

• Provides the right levels of service

• Regulates or eliminates price hikes

• Is easy to cancel

If you include these things in your hauler contract, your rates will be much more reasonable! And you’ll have recourse if your hauler consistently under-performs. 

Prior to getting a new contract, make sure you have a good idea about exactly what you want to be in yours. Being specific about what is and is not allowed in your contract will eliminate waste headaches for you, your staff, and your own customers. 

Once you know what you’re willing to agree to, begin the search for vendors. To find other area haulers, try googling “haulers near me.” Contact them and ask them to provide bids for servicing your locations.  Alternatively, you can also ask other businesses or companies in your area for recommendations. 

After you have found a service provider, you will need to let your current provider know that you are terminating your contract with them on a specific date. You may have to pay a termination fee (something you can find out more about on your contract), so be prepared for that in advance. 

You Can Eliminate Your Waste Worries By Fixing Your Waste Contract

Your waste contract is the cornerstone of your waste management. It will affect your bottom line, your staff’s sanity, and your own customers or clients. Making sure your waste services work - and is working for you - is critical. 

By ensuring your contract sets you up for success, you can have freedom from waste worries. You won’t have to worry about price spikes or what to do if a pick-up is missed; you’ll have eliminated those problems through your contract. 

Find yourself low on time and resources? See all of our resources on how to stop overspending!

What To Do With A $20,000 Waste Bill

Just a few months ago, one of our clients got an unwelcome surprise. They got their hauler invoice for the month and found that their service rates had increased not 9, not 90, but by 900%!

As you can imagine, they were somewhat less than thrilled.

They didn’t have any service or equipment changes. In fact, nothing had changed. 

And yet here they were. They paid a little over $2,000 in April, but found themselves being charged over $20,000 in May.

So naturally, they got in touch with their vendor. 

Now I wasn’t there but based on what they told us, I imagine the conversation went something like this:

“Hey guys, Apartment Complex X here. There’s got to be something wrong with our invoice this month - it jumped over $18,000! Can you tell me what’s going on?”

Hauler: “Hmmm. Um, it’s a rate increase.”

“A what?”

Hauler: “A rate increase.”

“You’ve got to be joking. What kind of rate increase entails a 900% jump? That’s ridiculous!””

Hauler: “ Well ma’am, standard price increases are typical and frequently occur after a certain period of time…”

I can’t tell you what I would have said to end this conversation. But I can tell you that Apartment X got in touch with us rapidly. 

And their WCI project manager jumped in immediately. 

He stayed on the the haulers like a hawk to get a sound answer. After several rounds of calls, the WCI project manager was finally able to speak to someone at this particular hauler’s office who could help. And - surprise, surprise - this person told tell him that the increase was indeed due to an internal error. 

But the issue wasn’t all cleared up.

The next month’s invoice came out and was not quite as high, but it was still way off. It wasn’t until the following month’s invoice came out - 2 months after the $20K bill - that the pricing was finally corrected.  Our project manager fought for the client at every turn and he didn’t stop until the issue was completely resolved.

What would they have done if they couldn’t have called us? Gone back and forth with their service provider for hours and days and weeks to try to reach a resolution? Paid the invoice? Filed a lawsuit?

But they did call us. They knew we had their backs. We fought on their behalf, and they didn’t have to pay the inaccurate invoices or even accept any sort of rate increase. 

This is an extreme example of something that actually happens frequently. We find errors on client bills about 10% of the time. And when we do, we do exactly what we did here - we encourage the provider to correct the invoice. 

What would your staff do with an error like this? Would they have the time and resources to devote to it?

We help companies eliminate their waste worries - and prevent overpaying on hauler contracts and invoices. Learn how we can help you by scheduling a free consult today!

WCI's Audit Process

We’re serious about finding savings for our clients. So our waste audit process is exhaustive. They show every aspect of a client’s waste spend, and they show us how where to look for savings. 

We know that the more thorough the audit, the more peace of mind you’ll have.

Let’s take a few minutes to talk about what our audit process looks like, why it’s unique, and why it’s reliable. 

WCI’s Unique Waste Audit Process

A big reason our waste audit process works so well is that our project managers have over 30 years experience between them in the waste industry. They’ve seen it all, and so they know where to look for savings opportunities. 

Our teams leave no stone unturned - and we know they work. We’re disappointed if we can’t find at least 20% of savings on your annual waste spend. 

This is where we can really offer value to you, our clients. We take on all the hard work to find you the very best waste management options available to you. And it works. (Tad saved over $6,500 a month on waste expenses!) 

What Our Waste Audit Is

What exactly is so exhaustive about what we do? We go through your invoice history for every location for every piece of equipment. 

We compile data. We record all benchmark service information, and perform history audits for every piece of equipment that is over 8yds long. We look for and record price fluctuation, increases, and fees. When all the data is in, we analyze. Our analysis shows:

• where you’re overspending

• what equipment is working and not working

• identifies gaps in your service

• Where there may be opportunities to introduce technology

• the best way you can stop overspending. 

Regardless of the whether you have 1 location or 100 locations, we will look at every invoice to make sure no savings opportunities slip through the cracks. 

We talk with you. In order to serve you well, we ask you specific questions about how satisfied you are with your current waste and or recycling service levels. If you have a hauler with decent rates who just can’t seem to ever be available when you need him, or who consistently skips pick-ups, that’s not acceptable. In a scenario like this one, we would find a better hauler for you - one who can actually do what he’s agreed to do. 

We scour the market. We’ve been in business over 17 years, so we know good hauler rates from bad ones. We know if you’re overpaying - and by how much. We know if we can find you a better hauler, and we know where to look to find them. (Just ask Lisa from Ardmore Residential!)  

We scour your hauler contract. We know that areas most people overlook in their contracts. We look at whether your contract allows ancillary fees, whether it regulates price hikes, and how difficult it is for you to end your contract. The more we know about your contact, the easier it is for us to see what your next steps should be to eliminate your waste headaches. 

Read about how the audit fits into our Six Step Process . 

How Long It Takes

You may be thinking “Man, this must take a while!” And you would be right - it does. The average time for our waste audit completion is 60 - 90 days. We’re thorough.

We don’t do a rush job because that isn’t ultimately what’s best for you or your bottom line. And at the end, we can pinpoint your waste issues - and show you how to solve them.

Post-Waste Audit

After we’ve conducted the waste audit, we create a savings report called the Waste Savings Summary. It shows you exactly where you’re overspending and how we can fix those problems on your behalf. 

We talk you through our recommendations, and why we think they would be the best choice for you. Nothing super complicated here - it almost always comes down to a matter of who can provide the best service at the most ideal price point. We never recommend our clients get cheaper haulers who are not, in fact, reliable and trustworthy. We never suggest that they sacrifice quality for price. 

Once we’ve discussed the changes with you, we implement them. This means that we renegotiate contracts or find new haulers and services as necessary. 

After the changes affect your invoice, we share in the savings with you at a rate of 50%. 

Then, we audit your waste disposal bills to make sure they’re accurate, and continue to provide monthly reports that show the on-going effects of the service or contract updates. 

Our Audit Process Will Solve Your Waste Headaches

Our waste audit process is thorough because it’s the very best way to end your waste worries. Whether you find yourself drowning in over-priced services, or harried by constant missed pick-ups, there is a solution to your problems. 

Schedule a quick, informal call with our CEO, Tyler Brunson today to see how you can benefit from our services.

How to Figure Out How You’re Overspending on Waste

There comes a point in every dealing with a hauler where you are done. Maybe it was when you’ve called for the hundredth time only to wait on hold for half an hour. Maybe it was when you found garbage strewn about your site after pick-up. Or maybe it was when they raised prices unannounced for the second time this year. 

No matter how you’ve arrived at this point, you know that there has to be a better way. And there is!

But you may find yourself wondering how to move forward. How do you get to a place where your waste management is under control?

Use these six steps to review your waste management process. 

1. Recruit colleagues. 

2. Pick a time frame.

3. Conduct the Basic Audit. 

4. Review your contract. 

5. Analyze findings. 

6. Evaluate next steps. 

Each of these steps will allow you to find where you are overspending on your waste disposal. 

See all of our resources on how to stop overspending!

It will require some work and persistence, but with a little effort, you will have the relief of knowing that your waste spend is firmly under control. 

Let’s look more closely at each step. 

Recruit Colleagues

As any superhero will tell you, you need a buddy or two. In your fight against price-gouging haulers and unruly contracts, you’re going to need support. 

 If you only want to evaluate one site, and you may be able to conduct the audit yourself - or with just one or two colleagues. You’ll want to pick someone who is detail-oriented, organized, and ready and willing to chip in some time on behalf of your efforts. 

Pick a time frame

Decide which weeks will work best for your audit. Set yourself up for success! Schedule this audit before holidays so that you’ll get a good picture of disposal trends.

Decide what time of day will work for you (and your team).  Keep in mind when your containers are most frequently used. Also be mindful of your team’s availability and limitations.

Conduct the Basic Waste Audit 

You can’t fix problems you don’t know about. So it’s vital to assess your waste process. In this section, we’ll take you through each step of evaluating your waste spend. 

Want a detailed guide about waste audits?

The person in charge of the audit will first take down all of the info about the equipment that will be evaluated. They’ll record dumpster size, etc.

For four weeks, at the same time each day, take pictures of the fill status of your dumpsters, toters, or compactors on all of your sites. This will help you figure out if you are being serviced too frequently, as well as if your hauler is missing pick-ups.

Use a shared document like a google sheet if you have multiple people who will be recording this information!

(Click here for all the details about conducting an audit!)

Review Your Waste Hauler Contracts

The three biggest ways people overpay on waste is by not paying attention to contract length, pricing, and ancillary fees. 

Your contract term length may be anywhere from 2-5 years. This is really important to know! If you have a bad contract, it may be far more feasible for you to get out of a 2 year contract than one that extends to 5 years! 

You’ll also want to look at pricing - does your hauler contract prohibit or strictly reduce hauler price hikes? If not, you’ll need to take that into consideration as you evaluate the pros and cons of your contract. 

Ancillary fees are often listed on the left side of invoice: like these. 

The examples here include Fuel/Environmental Charge and Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge. Some others are recycling recovery, minimum tonnage, and container service plan fees.

Ancillary fees are not mandated by local or state government. They don’t absolutely have to appear on your bill. So if you’re paying a few extra hundred dollars a month for these fees, it’s critical to evaluate whether this is sustainable long-term. 

Download a free guide that makes evaluating your contract easy!

Analyze Findings

At this point in the six steps, you are officially armed and dangerous. You know your contract(s) and you’re familiar with your current service levels. Take some time to review your findings.

Did you find that your dumpster is never picked up when it’s full? Find other equipment issues? Did you find major problems with your contract? Take a bird’s eye view of your current waste management process and make a pros and cons list to determine what is working for you, and what isn’t ideal long-term. 

One other thing to keep in mind: it can be truly valuable to evaluate your waste management from a service standpoint. Your hauler may never miss a pick-up, or never leave trash on the ground, but they may be impossible to reach. This is annoying at best, and a time drain at worst. 

Evaluate Next Steps 

Now that you know where your waste management has problems, you can look at possible solutions. Maybe you need additional pieces of equipment. Or maybe you need a new hauler contract entirely!

Consider getting other bids from area haulers, or trying to renegotiate your current contract. 

Moving forward, keep in mind that whatever changes you make will not only likely have a financial impact, but an impact on people as well. 

Ultimately you want visitors (or residents) at your property to have a positive experience. This can be difficult if, say, your dumpsters are constantly overflowing.  And your want you and your staff to be free to work on true priorities. Making sure your waste management is streamlined and effective ensures that you and your people are taken care of. 

Eliminating your waste worries will serve you financially, but you can’t put a dollar amount on  the peace of mind you’ll also have as a result. 

Want to learn more about how to review your business’ waste process? Feel completely overwhelmed at the very thought? Let us know your thoughts in the contract below, or reach out to us!

How to Stop Overspending on Your Waste Disposal

Sometimes it seems like the waste industry is just one big headache. Contracts are difficult to get out of. Pick-ups are often late, or missed completely. Expensive haulers get away with being paid even more. Ultimately, you can end up overpaying by thousands of dollars as the years pass. 

Your disposal services are likely not really serving you. 

But with some effort you can fix that, starting today.

Download our free Guide to Reducing Waste Expenses to help you get started!

To figure out how to stop overspending, you’ll need to

• Review your waste process

• Learn the ins and outs of your contract

• Make strategic service changes

• Monitor those changes

Think of these as the four keys to unlocking savings. 95% of businesses - across all industries - are overspending on waste services. It’s likely that you’re sitting on hundreds or thousands of dollars of waste savings. But use these four keys, and you can find them!

And since you’re likely to be short on time, this post boils it down to the essentials and will walk you through each step.

Reviewing Your Waste Process

You may be looking at your waste stream and thinking, “Where do I even begin?” I recommend that you start with finding support and go from there. Even if you have less than an hour a week to contribute to a review, it is completely doable if you build a team and assign tasks. Your team can support you through the review process.

1. Recruit colleagues. Having a team to support the review efforts will ensure accountability and effectiveness. 

2. Pick a time frame. Take your team’s availability and scheduling issues at your locations. 

3. Conduct the Basic Audit. Familiarize yourself with the details of your waste streams. Are your dumpsters always full when they are serviced? Do your haulers frequently miss pick-ups? You won’t know until you conduct a basic audit.  

4. Review Your Contract. Pay special attention to key sections on your contract like: pricing, service levels, and terms. (Use the next section to help you know what to look for!)

5. Analyze findings. You may find that you need different equipment, or fewer pick-ups, or a new hauler.  

6. Evaluate next steps. Now that you know what to fix, you can take steps to solve on-going issues. Get a new hauler and a contract with better terms. Or adjust frequency of pick-ups. All of these will affect your bottom line for years to come.  

Learn about Your Waste Hauler Contract

Nobody except legal reads contracts, right? But I like to think of waste hauler contracts as maps - what they contain shows you how to navigate your waste process and find savings.

And don’t worry; you don’t have to read it end to end! Below, you’ll learn what sections of your contract to pay the most attention to. 

Terms - This part of your contract discusses how long your contract is in effect. Most hauler contracts are 3-5 years in length. But you’ll also want to check and see how easy it is to get out of these terms. Is there a fee associated with terminating the contract? What options do you have? Answers to questions like these are critical for implementing long-term, ideal waste solutions.  

Fees - Does your contract allow price spikes? How often can your hauler raise prices? An ideal contract will regulate or even eliminate price hikes. 

Service - How often are your site(s) being serviced? You may not actually need as many pick-ups as you think! There is often a lot of savings to be had in reducing the number of pick-ups, or getting different size dumpsters - or both.

It may also be helpful for you to look over your past few hauler invoices. Do you notice any increases to regular fees? Are you paying for services that aren’t in your contract? If the answer is yes to either of these questions, you know you’re overspending!

Making Disposal Service and Waste Equipment Changes 

Every company has at least three options to reduce waste expenses. Once you know your waste process and your hauler contract pretty well, you’ll be able to see where it’s possible for you to make changes.

Suppose, for instance, that you now know that your haulers fees have increased twice in the past year, and that there are other haulers in the area who could do the same service for less. This is valuable information! You could use it to renegotiate your contract with your current hauler, making sure it includes decreased service fees.

Every business is a little different, but at least one of these options will likely be the best one for yours.

Renegotiating Your Contract - Some companies don’t need to get out of their contract completely; they just need different terms or different service levels. Other companies may not financially be able to exit their contract. Either way, for a lot of companies, renegotiating their contract makes financial sense. 

Finding a New Hauler/Getting a New Contract - Some companies, on the other hand, find that it makes more financial sense to exit their contract, and pay out for the remainder. If you find yourself in this spot, send out bids to other area haulers and see if someone else can provide better levels of services. 

Getting New Equipment - Depending on your situation, getting different sizes of equipment can significantly reduce expenses related to waste equipment. If, for instance, you have two four-yard dumpsters that get picked up five times a week, you could upgrade to an eight-yard dumpsters that gets picked up three times a week - and save a nice sum each year as a result. (Learn more about different kinds of waste equipment!)

Monitoring Those Changes

Moving forward, you’ll want to make sure that the changes you’ve implemented are actually working. If you’ve gotten a different contract or a new hauler, you should see a difference in savings almost immediately. The same with equipment - the savings should be evident on the next month’s invoices. 

But in order to make sure you’re getting the full effect of the your efforts, you’ll need to also monitor hauler invoices. We find that haulers make mistakes about 10% of the time - and that adds up fast! Make sure you know what you’re supposed to be charged, and make sure your billing reflects that. 

It’s also worth it to periodically revisit your basic audit. Waste needs tend to change over time in every industry, so you want to be sure that you aren’t overlooking savings you could take advantage of. 

You Don’t Have to Keep Overspending on Your Waste Disposal

With some effort and patience, you’ll see how waste savings can add up. If you carefully review your waste process, your contract and service levels, and make strategic choices, you can reign in overspending. But you can also find relief from waste worries - from price hikes, from awful service, and from terrible contracts. 

You can take charge of your waste worries, and you can start today! 

What questions do you have about your current waste management process? Let us know in the comments below, or shoot us an email.

Wendy's Franchisee Saves More than $6,500 A Month

“When you first approached me about managing our solid waste costs, I was skeptical. When you came back to me with $6,800 per month in savings, I was truly impressed and grateful!” - Tad Dolbier, Vice President

Tad knew he had a problem. He owned 73 Wendy’s and his waste expenses were out of control. He was spending $321,600 on waste management a year - $26,800 a month.

He knew the right steps to take. Tad had already tried to re-negotiate multiple contracts with his haulers. But he was driving blind. Tad just didn’t have the waste industry knowledge to make his contracts airtight.  He didn’t know what other area companies were paying for their waste, so he didn’t have the leverage he needed to successfully negotiate. 

When we first met Tad, he was skeptical that we could reduce their costs. He had done everything he could think of - how could we possibly help him?

We had the industry knowledge he needed to find the savings he knew he was sitting on.

We did a thorough audit, which revealed several problems. He had:

• several under-performing vendors

• inefficient equipment

• poor quality waste hauler contracts.

We solved each of these problems. We found other vendor options for Tad, and made equipment recommendations that would further reduce costs. We made new vendor contracts that protected him against price gouging at every location he had. 

As a result, Tad ended up saving $85,200 every year - a 26% reduction in waste disposal expenses. How would a 26% reduction impact your bottom line?

Find out for free! Schedule a no-risk waste audit today.

Tad’s waste expenses were solidly under control. Over the course of his contracts, he saved thousands of dollars that he would have never known about if he hadn’t partnered with us. And thanks to the protection provided in his new contract, he could rest easy knowing his costs would stay relatively flat for years to come. 

Tad suspected he was overspending, so he partnered with us to complete a risk-free audit. If we hadn’t found savings, Tad wouldn’t have owed us a dime. Our audits are thorough, and they consistently work - 90% of our clients find savings.

How much savings are you sitting on? Find out for free. Schedule a no-obligation consultation to see if our services are a fit for you.

Waste Hauler Secrets Exposed: Part 2

Everyone likes to be in on a secret, right?

Think of how many stories revolve around hidden knowledge: Jason Bourne has to figure out who he is, Indiana Jones unravels the mystery around the arc of the covenant, and Pandora can’t stand not knowing what is in that secret locked box.

Sometimes, there’s a really good reason that knowledge is hidden. We’d all be happier of Pandora hadn’t opened her box, right?

But other times, what you don’t know can really hurt you.

Download the free Waste Hauler Questionnaire today!

We’ve found this to be the case over and over again when it comes to waste hauler contracts. So many people are overspending on their waste haulers - some by as much as 50%!

In our experience, most haulers aren’t exactly forthcoming about what they charge you and how they set up contracts.

We’re drawing back the curtain and giving you an insider’s look at what’s really going on with your hauler contract.

You have more power than you know when it comes to setting up contracts - you just don’t know it!

Today, we’ll go over the top four questions we get about hauler contracts: whether you should sign one, lock in prices, and renegotiate.

Should I sign a waste hauler contract?  What are the advantages/disadvantages of contracts?

OK, I admit, this is sort of a trick question.  Gone are the days that your local hauler will pick up your trash without a signed service agreement.  To get your waste picked up, you have to sign an agreement or contract with a hauler.

So, yes, you’ll definitely need to sign one, but you need to be absolutely certain that the one you create is in your best interest.

Contracts themselves aren’t the problem - bad contracts are!

Unfortunately, we see a ton of awful contracts.

Most of our clients sign contracts that aren’t in their favor!

Some sign with a hauler that charges way too much for their services. Others need an 8 yard dumpster instead of a 4 yard one, or two pick-ups a week instead of three.

They just don’t know that better options can be had. And contracts lock you in to overpaying for years at a time.

As I often joke with our clients, if you’d like to get out of your current agreement before the expiration date all you have to do is jump backwards through a ring of fire, stick the landing, and hope that your renewal notice letter gets to them within their allotted window of time!

But good contracts have their advantages.

In some instances, I will actually recommend that our clients sign an agreement with their hauler for longer than 3 years.  

Why? Better long-term pricing. We are often able to negotiate terms that pre-determine when and by how much the hauler can raise their rates.

If there is typically a lot of volatility in a particular market or if there are not many options available, locking in the price can help the client accurately budget for years to come. It will also prevent the hauler from applying their typical price increases that most companies have just come to accept.  

What is going to happen to waste disposal prices in 6, 12, 24, 36 months? Can I lock in a price?

I tell our clients all the time - it’s not a matter of when and if you will receive unauthorized price increases, it’s a matter of when, how much and how egregious the price increase will be.  

The simple fact is, if your hauler contract isn’t thorough, you will be on the receiving end of some really fun surprise price hikes in the next few months and years.

You can lock in your price, but it must be done as part of your initial negotiation with your hauler.

 If not done (or not done properly) I find that most haulers will increase prices every year by as much as 15% or more. And there usually aren’t any warnings ahead of time, either.

In order to catch these price hikes or other errors, the hauler invoices need to be reviewed carefully each month and compared to previous invoices.

When a discrepancy is found, a company representative will need to let the hauler know that you are not going to pay the invoice until you understand the price increase and why you received it.  

Sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it? We know! That’s why support options are built into our service agreements with our clients.

We find it’s worth it: we find mistakes on about 10% of hauler invoices. And no, that is not a typo!

We take on all the work - we notify the hauler on our client’s behalf and request a credit and/or explanation of the price increase.

As a result, you and your staff spend their time doing their jobs instead of trying to track down and negotiate with a hauler.

When we identify a price increase it’s almost never authorized. Why? We build it into hauler contracts.

So when these price spikes do hit, we have already negotiated terms on our client’s behalf that prevent or minimize future price increases.  

We tend to have a lot more success negotiating price increases than most businesses who go it on their own. Why?

1. We know the contracts and what they should be paying.

2. We know who to call.

3. We continue to call until it gets resolved.

You’re a busy person! You don’t always have the time or resources to get to the bottom of price increases, so it’s something we’re glad to take on on your behalf.

What waste hauler terms are negotiable?

You can actually negotiate your hauler terms! So many people don’t know this, and it ends up really coming back to bite them.

Honestly, your hauler would probably prefer that you stay in the dark about what you can negotiate and what you can’t. But we don’t! Take a look at the list below.

Negotiable terms include:

• Pricing: How much you pay for services like pick-ups, dumpster rentals, etc.

• Length of the contracts: Contracts can vary in length, but you do have some control over how long the terms are.

• Price increases: Contracts stipulate when and by how much a waste hauler can hike prices.

• Ancillary fees: Some examples are fuel/environment fees, recycling recovery fees, overage fees and administrative fees

• Payment terms: How and when you will pay the hauler.

• Performance: Specifies hauler pick-up schedule, how quickly they’ll show up after a service request, and protocol for missed pick-ups.

• Pick up timing: This part of an agreement discusses roll-offs and compactors, how quickly they will pick up after a client requests one.

Should I renegotiate now or at some later date?

The timing of renegotiating your current contract is critical. Wait too long, and you could be locked into overspending for months.

In general, the sooner you can renegotiate more favorable rates, the better.

A few ways you can do this:

• See if you can get other bids from area haulers. There are often other haulers in your area who can service your location for less.

• Include price hike stipulations in your contract

• Make sure the level of your current service is what you actually need (pick-up frequency, equipment limitations, etc).

Ending a contract with a current hauler can be pricey, so we make sure that it actually benefits you.

We do a cost benefit analysis to see if curtailing your contract with one company could save you money in the long run.

And you know what? 99% of the time, it does.

Consider a manufacturing company we recently worked with.

They were paying one hauler over $1600 a month for their services at one of their locations in Florida.

Surprising absolutely no one, we found they were overpaying. There was another hauler in their region that could do provide the same services but for $300 less a month. Which means that they were overspending by $3600 a year!   

How did we do this? We have standard addendum that we use that tilts the deck in our clients favor. And it works - more than 95% of the time, we find overlooked savings.

Not sure if your current hauler contracts are really in your best interest? Are you currently trying to negotiate with a hauler and just finding it completely overwhelming?

Download our free Waste Hauler Questionnaire. It has all the questions you need to ask your hauler about pricing, contracts, and waste audits.

Let us know your questions in the comments below.

Waste Hauler Secrets Exposed: Part 1

You know what most haulers thrive off of? How they really make their money?

Your ignorance about what they do.

Yup, seriously.

But you know what? You have every right right to know how you’re being charged for your waste services.

Honestly, haulers aren’t going to like this article because we’re going to be really honest with you about how they decide what to charge you.

But we really believe that knowing things like how haulers calculate their operational costs is vital for you as a decision maker.

Knowledge is power; and one of our goals here at WCI is to empower you. You don’t have to overspend on your waste expenses - you just have to know what to look for!

Psst! Download our free Guide to Reducing Waste Expenses here!

The more you know the nitty-gritty about waste hauler costs, the less likely you are to sign less than ideal hauler contracts.

So let’s jump in! We’ll look at the top three questions we get about hauler costs

1. What are the primary components of “costs”?

2. Can the vendor’s “costs” (not Price) be reduced?

3. What is the vendor’s profit margin?  

Ready? Let’s go behind the scenes of hauler pricing!

What are the primary components of waste hauler “costs”?

Of course, waste hauler have costs on their end. It costs them to do what they do.

Some of these costs include:

1. Disposal cost to drop off waste materials at disposal facility.

   Did you know that disposal facilities (like dumps) charge for the waste they receive? Haulers have to pay this fee, and this fee often gets passed onto the customer, or their client.

2. Cost of hauler equipment.

   Dumpsters, garbage trucks, and composters are expensive! Many people rent the equipment from the hauler company, so the haulers are responsible for maintenance. The hauler companies have to buy and service most equipment they use for waste disposal.

3. Cost for servicing account.

   A few other operation costs factor into the actual cost the hauler incurs to conduct business.

   Consider what it takes to make an average waste disposal run with a dump truck. Haulers have to take into account employee compensation (for driving the truck), the fuel cost, and the cost of the truck itself (wear and tear).

   Haulers will typically divide up the number of locations they have to service with one truck to figure out how much to charge each customer.

   Some of these costs are passed onto the consumer, but the degree to which it is passed on varies from hauler to hauler.

   Can the waste vendor’s “costs” be reduced?

A lot of the factors in pricing listed above are simply out of the hauler’s power. No one can control gas prices or how many oil changes a truck will need. There will always be a certain amount of operational expense, and nowhere is this more true than the waste industry.

But the hauler absolutely controls how much of his operational fees he passes on to you. And honestly, too many of them will pass on a ridiculous amount of his fees.

This is why it’s so critically important to set up your contracts right the first time! A good contract will prevent the hauler from overcharging you for his services.

In order to reduce the amount of operational costs the hauler passes on to you, you need to:

1. Review your contract to see if there is a fee to break your contract.

2. Price out other vendors to see if you can get less expensive service.

3. Audit your expenses to see if your waste needs are actually being met by your current level of service.

If it makes financial sense to switch waste haulers, you absolutely should do so!

What is the vendor’s profit margin?

No one works for free, right?

Most companies attempt to pass on any additional costs they incur back to their clients in the form of price increases.  The waste hauling industry is no different.

The profit margin varies from hauler to hauler and from region to region. However, most haulers will not enter an agreement unless they are making at least a 15% profit. (We’ve actually  seen some companies make as much as 100% or more in profit!)

Profit margins for the haulers almost always increase every year. We’re talking 99% of the time.

Haulers tend to increase their rates 1-10% of the time. We’ve seen them do this up to four times a year!

But you know what else?

A vendors profit margin is also dependent on you, the client!

When these price spikes happen, the majority of businesses either don’t notice them or don’t question them. Haulers often bet that you won’t notice, or that you won’t care if you do.

But we do. We conduct monthly invoice audits to catch these hikes, then fight them on your behalf. Not one of our clients will ever pay an unfair bill or invoice!

So there you have it! You are not powerless when it comes to negotiating your hauler contract, you just have to know the rules of the game.

Now, you know what to be mindful of when discussing pricing and contractual agreements with a waste hauler.

For even more information, download our free Waste Hauler Questionnaire. It has all the questions you need to ask your hauler about pricing, contracts, and waste audits.

Think you might be overspending on waste disposal? What questions do you have? Let us know in the comments below, or reach out to us!

Multi-Family Property Saves Thousands in Waste Expenses

What would you do with an extra $5000 a month? Buy a yacht? Take an amazing family vacation? Finally put away some savings for your children’s college fund?

Back in 2017, we partnered with Ardmore, a multi-family apartment property management company. We were able to help them save an additional $5000 a month! Our extensive audit and review of their waste and recycling expenses ended up saving them thousands of dollars a year.

After we found these savings, Lisa Russell, the COO of Ardmore, wrote,

“We have a valuable partnership with Waste Consultants. At first, I was not sure how they could help Ardmore - now I know that we won’t do business without them!”

Why did Lisa give us such a glowing review?  I’ll show you.

Originally, Lisa was spending $425,000 a year on waste disposal. We got that down to $360,000, which is an annual gross savings of $65,000 or 15%.  

Another way to put it - they started making $5,000 more a month!

Here are some of the challenges we ran into and what we did to overcome them:

• They had multiple waste vendors in place with multiple contracts. We familiarized ourselves with each vendor and each contract to see where there were inefficiencies.

• No uniform pricing and unfavorable terms. Their vendors were all charging them different rates and their contracts were really not in their favor.

• Valet door-to-door service was overpriced. Prior to our partnership, Ardmore just wasn’t aware of alternative services. We found them a less expensive option that had great service.

We were able to find savings opportunities due to our comprehensive services. We performed an in-depth review that analyzed yards of waste per unit and per resident.

As a result, the waste hauler contracts were renegotiated and a new valet vendor was recommended that resulted in tremendous savings. The hauler agreements are more favorable to Ardmore and the future pricing is much more predictable.

We loved helping Lisa stop overspending for her waste expenses. Our proven methods not only help her, but many other property managers around the country. The results we found for Ardmore are very typical - we find savings over 95% of the time!  

What questions do you have about your waste management process? Let us know in the comments below!

Five Pieces of Waste Equipment You Can't Not Know About

“Right,” you may be thinking “what could possibly be so important about waste equipment? Aren’t dumpsters pretty self-explanatory? What could possibly be so important about waste equipment? ”

The waste equipment you have and how you use it is so important - one dirty little dumpster can have a huge affect your bottom line!

One of our recent clients found this out the hard way. We started working with a manufacturing company in summer of 2018. At one of their locations in South Carolina, they were paying almost $200 a month for renting their open top container. But we found them a better vendor that would only charge $50 per month. The client ended up paying about $1700 less a year for the dumpster, and $25,500 less per year for that location.

One little dumpster can mean thousands of dollars in overspending per year.

Psst! Learn about the top ways you’re overspending - for free!

If it’s on your location, each piece of equipment in the list below is affecting your bottom line. The more you know about each of them, the more informed decisions you can make about their uses, and the more you might be able to save.

And since we know you can’t spend all day looking at waste equipment, we’ve boiled it down to the five most important ones.

So take a deep breath, hold your nose, and let’s dive into the world of waste equipment!

Toters

Did you ever take your family’s trash to the curb as a kid? You loved it, right? Or maybe you’re one of those anomalies like our CEO, Tyler Brunson, who enjoys taking out the trash as an adult! Either way, you’ve seen one of these. Their best feature? Wheels. Meaning that instead of dragging it down your never-ending driveway, all you had to do was tilt and pull. Kids the world over rejoiced.    

In the waste industry this is called a toter.

Size: Usually about 43” high, 36” deep, 96 gallon capacity

Use: Residential, multi-family units, or smaller businesses

Cost: Flat monthly fee

Dumpsters

Dumpsters can come in all kinds of shapes, sizes, and colors, but there are four different kinds:

1. Front Load Dumpsters (also known as FELs)

2. Front Load Dumpsters with Casters

3. Rear Load Dumpsters

4. Rear Load Dumpsters with Casters

Of all these types, the front load dumpster like the one in the video is the most popular. If you have a dumpster on your property, it’s probably this one! The front load dumpster gets picked up from - you guessed it - the rear.

Restaurants, apartment buildings, shopping centers, office complexes and convenience stores most often use dumpsters for their waste disposal.

Dumpsters with casters are used mostly in urban areas. They may be stored in one place, like the basement of a high-rise or an alley, then wheeled out to the street to be picked up.

Some fast facts:

Size: 4, 6, and 8 yard (by total cubic yardage capacity)

Use: Consistent, relatively light waste streams

Cost: Flat fee based on the size and the frequency of pick-up

Open-Top (or Roll-off)

Picture Source

If you’ve ever walked by a construction site, chances are that you’ve seen one of these.  

Like the dumpsters above, these come in several sizes.

Size: 20, 30, 40 yard sizes

Use: Often for construction waste, but they are also used for heavy, bulky items that won’t fit in smaller containers. These containers are perfect for hauling refuse like large pieces of wood, old furniture, or metal scraps.

Cost: There’s a flat fee per pick-up, a rental fee, and a fee based on actual weight.

Compactors

Picture Source

Remember the trash compacter scene in Star Wars? Han Solos, Leah, Luke, and Wookie find themselves in a compacter the size of a room that gets turned on. It’s a great scene, and - spoiler alert - they survive.

Fortunately, most commercial compactors don’t ever see that much excitement.

For businesses that produce a significant volume of waste, compactors can really help reduce how much space your garbage takes up in the dumpster. (And, if you believe the gentleman above, they’re fun to use!) When your garbage takes up less space, your hauler shouldn’t have to come pick it up as often. This is a great way to reduce waste expenses.

There are two types of compactors: self-contained and breakaway. Since there are some big differences between the two, we’ve used the chart below to compare size and uses.

There are three fees for compactors regardless of type:

1. Flat fee per pick-up

2. Rental Fee

3. Fee based on actual weight (charged by the ton)

Self-contained compactors tend to be more expensive to lease because the equipment is more expense for the hauler to purchase.

It’s worth noting that some haulers will charge the actual tonnage fee that the landfill charges to them to dispose of the waste. Other haulers will charge you more - the landfill tonnage fee and whatever else they feel like charging you as profit.

Balers

Up to your eyeballs in cardboard? You may need a baler.  A commercial baler like this one packages waste products like cardboard, newspaper, shrinkwrap, plastic, clothes, or even tires! Balers are a great way to save space and money.

Size: 60 - 72”

Use: to flatten and package waste for recycling or selling.

Cost: Lease for a flat monthly rate or purchase  

Conclusion

Toters, dumpsters, open-tops, compactors and balers have specific uses, dimensions, and costs. When they’re used strategically and serviced appropriately, they can help you keep your waste expenses to a minimum. Now that you’re familiar with each type you understand how they are used at your location - and maybe even have some ideas about how new equipment could save time and resources.

What questions do you have about waste equipment? Let me know in the comments below.

Everything you Need to Know about Waste Consultants, Waste Brokers and Waste Haulers

“Consultants and brokers are really the same, right?”

“Are haulers responsible for pick-up, or are consultants?”

“Do brokers work with haulers, too?”

These are some of the questions we get on a regular basis about our industry, and we can’t say we blame people! There are so many roles in the waste industry and it can be really overwhelming. But the more you know about consultants, brokers, and haulers, the better decision you can make about your waste management needs.

Here’s a simple breakdown of the differences and similarities between waste consultants, waste brokers, and waste haulers.

Comparison of Waste Consultants, Brokers, and Haulers

Waste Services Comparison Chart

The waste industry can seem complicated, but having the right information will really help you make ideal decisions for your business.

Let’s look at how consultants, brokers and haulers compare in these categories:

1. Waste Payments and Billing Practices

2. Initial and Ongoing Waste Audits

3. Waste Hauler Selection, Accountability, and Payment

And after you’ve been informed about each of these categories, you’ll have a much clearer picture about what your business or organization needs in relation to waste disposal. We’ve also included one last section at the end about how to know what waste service is right for you.

Ready? let’s dive in!

Waste Payment and Billing Practices

Are you overspending on waste services? Don’t let this be you!

The next time you pay your electric or gas bill, take a quick look at the services listed. You’ll likely see a list of dates and your usage over that period of time. This is called an itemized bill. Consumers tend to appreciate these because they show exactly what they’re paying for - which makes it easier to spot sudden price hikes or mistakes.

Here at WCI, we think this kind of transparency is invaluable and we make sure our invoices reflect this. After we check hauler invoices (more on this below), we address any mistakes then send an itemized invoice to our clients. They can see exactly what they are paying for at each location and which haulers or vendors are being used. This transparency gives you the whole picture of your expenses.

Brokers, on the other hand, will send you a consolidated waste bill that likely will not show their fees, price spikes, or itemized expenses. Consolidated bills have a simplicity that some property managers really like, especially those who have multiple locations. But the convenience can come at a cost. It can be difficult to discern price spikes, or if your hauler has suddenly changed.

But brokers and consultants also differ in how they are typically paid.

As consultants, we are compensated by sharing in the savings we find for our clients. Typically, we share 50-50 in the savings.

A broker, however, will collect his monthly fee regardless of whether you are overspending. Overpaying by 20% for his hauler’s services? That’s unfortunate, and you may not ever find out about it. Spending $2000 more a year on a dumpster you don’t really need? You’ll likely never know.

This tendency to overspend on waste expenses is rampant in every industry we’ve ever serviced: food services, medical waste, retail, multi-family, you name it!

How do we combat it? By conducting extensive audits.

Initial and Ongoing Waste Audits

Due to these opposing profit objectives, consultants and brokers tend to have different approaches to initial audits.

When first setting up a contract, both consultant and brokers will conduct an initial audit. Consultants, however, tend to be much more thorough at this stage; brokers aren’t often as careful. We see this time and time again when people use brokers and as best we can figure, it happens because of the different profit objectives.

We also complete on-going site audits to make sure you aren’t being overcharged. We go over each bill to make sure it’s accurate, and fight price spikes on your behalf. WCI also looks for other ways you’re overspending in your waste and update you as needed. After all, the more savings we find for you, the better off we both are!

But since a waste broker is compensated regardless of how much expense he saves you, they often do not have the financial incentive to conduct exhaustive reviews or perform hauler audits.  

Waste Hauler Selection, Accountability, and Payment

Unless you’re planning on taking out the garbage yourself, you need a waste hauler! There a couple of different ways to partner with one.

You can create a hauler agreement between you and the hauler. But for those with many properties or properties in different states, this can create an administrative nightmare.

So a lot of companies chose to partner with a waste consultant or a waste broker. Both do the same thing: they negotiate with and manage the haulers on your behalf.

But the consultant operates from a partnership model; when we finish our review, we present our clients with a Waste Savings Summary (WSS) that shows our recommendations. We then discuss the best options with our client and implement them on his or her behalf.

The broker, on the other hand, will make this decision without consulting with the client. Occasionally, their selection of waste haulers is the ideal choice for the client - but a lot of times, it’s not. Some of our clients have overspent on their broker-selected hauler by 20-30% a month; something we quickly put a stop to.

Another major difference between consultants and brokers is whether they pay the hauler. A waste consultant will review their invoices, but we don’t pay haulers on your behalf. Brokers do. This can be great for convenience but ultimately leaves you in the dark about what exactly you are paying for.  

Is a waste consultant or a waste broker right for me?

It can seem like there are too many options for waste management!

If you want a thorough understanding of your refuse needs and on-going auditing services, consider learning more about the recurring savings opportunities offered by a waste consultant.

But if you find yourself in a position where you don’t want as much say in the haulers you work with, or want the simplicity of a consolidated bill, a broker might be best for you.

It’s really a question of how involved and informed you want to be in the management of your haulers and your waste and recycling streams.

What kinds of issues do you have with your current waste management process? Do you have any recurring frustrations with your hauler? We would love to answer any questions you have. You can always get in touch with us at info@wasteconsultantsinc.net.

The Definitive Guide to Waste Consultants (2019 Version)

Everyone loves their waste hauler, right? You get top-notch service: your haulers always pick up your waste promptly and they never leave behind a mess or forget to service dumpsters.  And their rates are always fair and never go up.

Are you laughing yet?

The reality is, most people really don’t like dealing with their hauler. They’re hard to get a hold of when you really need them, their service often leaves much to be desired, and their fees seem exorbitant given what they actually do.

Psst! Download our free Guide to Reducing Waste Expenses!

You probably already know that you’re not getting the best service, but what can you do? Who has time to fight for better rates and service on top of everything else on their plate? You don’t, but waste consultants do!

Here at Waste Consultants Inc, (WCI) we don’t like seeing anyone paying too much for waste disposal services. We make sure that you aren’t getting raked over the coals with unfair vendor contracts or deceptive industry practices.  

Most of our clients spend at least $10,000 a month in waste fees - which is a significant recurring expense! We cut these expenses in two ways: through service improvements and renegotiating agreements. We do a free exhaustive waste audit, then recommend cost-saving measures.

Ready to learn more about how we do what we do? Let’s dive in!

Our Six Step Process

Our six step process is designed to find every waste savings opportunity available to you.

After you sign a service agreement , we partner with you to take these next steps:

1. Assign WCI personnel

2. Review waste expenses at all facilities

3. Identify cost reduction opportunities

4. Develop recommendations

5. Implement approved recommendations

6. Provide a monthly saving report.

Our proven process has helped clients in retail, food, and multi-family industries and others better manage their waste disposal.

Assign WCI Personnel

First, we set up a Kick Off Meeting between you and your project manager. This meeting usually happens by phone, but it has happened on-site on occasion. This meeting is a chance for you to get to know your project manager and discuss what the next 60-90 days will look like as they do a detailed review of your waste disposal expenses.

Review Waste Expenses at All Facilities

In order to conduct our comprehensive audit, we need to gather some relevant waste documents. We will need:

1. Copies of the most recent waste hauler invoices - typically just a current copy for each location we are reviewing.

2. Signed Letter of Authorization (LOA) on company Letterhead, which lets us work with your haulers

3. Copies of contracts in place with current waste and recycling vendors

4. Vendor online access credentials (if applicable)

5. List of locations with contacts/managers

We have designed our waste audit to be as non-intrusive as possible to you and those you with whom you work. This paperwork gives us a framework of what your waste needs currently are, and we often also work with our clients by phone as well to get additional information.

Identify Cost Reduction Opportunities

After looking at how you currently manage your waste, we find ways to reduce your monthly waste expenditure.

What specific things do we look at? This varies: every location has different waste needs.

Broadly speaking, we tend to find most of our savings in three ways: in renegotiating hauler contracts, in adjusting the frequency of pick-up, and in getting more efficient waste management equipment.

We may not recommend all of these at every location, but the examples below will give you an idea of some of the ways we identify cost reduction opportunities.

One of the first things we look at is hauler contracts. Is there another hauler that could perform the same services for less? Should you renegotiate your current agreement with your hauler to get better rates?

We also look at the frequency of pick-up. Many of our clients don’t actually need to have pick-ups as often as they do! A recent client, a retirement community, originally had their roll-off dumpster picked up four times a week. After our evaluation, we found that they really only needed to have their trash picked up twice a week. This saved them over $600 a month, or about $7200 a year!

We will confirm with your haulers to find out if your frequency levels are accurate,  and indicate this on our report. We also have the ability to use technology (cameras, sensors, etc) to better understand your needs and develop recommendations to reduce expenses and better manage your disposal needs.

Lastly, we examine the waste equipment you have on-site. Do you need a compactor? Do you need a larger or smaller dumpster? If your have an 8 yard dumpster onsite but it only gets half-way filled before the hauler picks it up, it’s likely a good idea to see if you can get a different dumpster size. Every little bit of monthly savings adds up!

Develop Recommendations

Based on our analysis, we create a recommendations report tailored to your industry and location. It shows what you could save, and what to implement to access those savings. We call this a Waste Savings Summary, or “WSS” for short.

The WSS lists each location and every kind of equipment that location has. We compare the existing waste disposal arrangements with our recommendations for new ones. And we also take into account all recycling streams. As you can see below, not every category has potential for savings, but those that do can be pretty significant.

At this sample location, we were able to reduce the dumpster rental at one location from $758.64 to $267.60.

This, combined with savings opportunities in other categories, resulted in a savings of 25% or $4002.53.

Implement Approved Recommendations

“We typically save our clients 20-40% in expenses per month.”

When our report is ready, your project manager will send it to you or the person responsible for its implementation. They will also set up a phone conference to go over it with you. We give you our recommendations report and explain our findings in detail.  Then, we implement the recommendations upon your approval.  

This report shows exactly what you need to change to reduce waste expenditure. It includes all the information about your current waste management arrangements and shows what your future savings can be. The average varies from location to location, but we typically save our clients 20-40% in expenses per month.

During your follow-up conversation with your program manager, you can ask any questions you want about their findings. Want to know how they were able to save you $300 a month in dumpster fees? Not sure if you should buy or rent a compactor? Want to know more about the dependability of a recommended waste hauler?

Your Project Manager is there to support you and answer all questions you have about how to best manage your waste disposal. And after you decide which recommendations to implement, we work with you to make the necessary changes.

What if there are no savings to be found? We at WCI are compensated only when we find savings for you. If we find no savings opportunity, you pay nothing. We don’t charge fees (like a broker) if our services don’t actually affect your bottom line.

Provide a Monthly Savings Report

Each month, we provide a Monthly Savings Report very similar to our Waste Savings Summary. The report lists your old expenses and your new expenses. It also shows how the waste reduction methods you’ve implemented are effecting your monthly savings.

Prior to sending you this bill, we audit all hauler invoices to make sure that you are not overcharged. We find that bills contain errors about 10% of the time, so we make it a point to review them carefully.

We Partner with You!

So many companies are overspending on their waste management, but yours doesn’t have to be one of them.

Each part of our six-step process is designed to support you in your desire to reduce waste expenditure. We exhaustively examine your waste and recycling streams, then show you opportunities for savings. And we constantly monitor your invoices for discrepancies and for additional expense reduction potential.

What other questions do you have about your waste management process? Want to know more about how we find our clients savings? Let us know in the comments below!