August 14, 2023
The waste management industry, as a whole, faces many unique challenges that are industry-specific on a daily basis. Much like with any sector, problems with the industry can cause a multitude of issues. However, inefficient water management can lead to the opposite of the industry's aim: excess waste, increased illegal dumping, degradation of soil, and additional pollution of the environment.
Efficient waste management not only reduces the impact of waste but also saves significant costs. By optimising your processes, you can work to the best of your capabilities, contributing to a cleaner local area and a healthier country while also boosting your financial performance.
Understanding the urgency of the waste management issue is crucial. The World Bank predicts that by 2025, a staggering 2.5 billion tonnes of solid waste will be generated globally. This waste, if not disposed of correctly, can severely impact health and cities worldwide. It's a stark reminder of the waste management industry's vital role in global sustainability and the need for immediate action, instilling a sense of responsibility and the need for urgent measures.
While your waste management business may seem like a small part of the industry, its efficiency is vital. No matter how small, every cog plays a crucial role in the sector's overall performance. This understanding of the importance of each role can foster a sense of responsibility and commitment among all employees, motivating them to impact the environment positively.
This post will look at ways you can improve efficiency within your waste haulage company and see the desired results.
Implementing waste management software can be instrumental in helping you streamline things behind the scenes. From improved and after invoicing to optimal route tracking, GPS software to track drivers and more. Having a centralised software that can handle everything from queries to completion and everything in between can give you a smoother operation and a greater insight into how you're performing in areas you need to focus on for further improvements.
Inefficient recycling within your organisation can lead to increased pressure on landfill sites. You're simply contributing to a problem because you don't have processes to sort the waste you are collecting effectively.
Effective recycling needs to be carried out at multiple points, and having the correct infrastructure in place to facilitate more thorough sorting processes can enable you to identify waste that can be recycled and that which needs not be sent directly to landfill.
It is vital to recycle plastic, paper, cards, and cloth materials and have a dedicated e-waste component that allows you to redirect e-waste and technology so that it doesn't languish in landfills.
Developing your collection and recycling facilities can be a great place to start so waste can be sorted immediately once it enters your facility. Improving customer literature and education on the importance of recycling and how to recycle effectively can improve how waste is disposed of prior to collection, making it easier for you or redirecting it once in your possession. Utilising initiatives aimed at improved recycling practices can enable you to improve recycling processes.
If you are not careful in how you approach your working day, operational costs can spiral out of control. From employee costs to fuel costs to investing in new trucks, software, and machinery, multiple angles will impact your costs and send your outgoings soaring. Addressing these operational costs is crucial to ensuring the financial sustainability of your waste management company.
While increasing customer pricing might be the obvious way to tackle rising costs, it isn't always optimal, especially if you have competitors doing one or more for equal or lower prices.
Look at how you operate, where your biggest costs are, and what your day-to-day functionality looks like. Where are you wasting time and money, and what can you do better? Taking stock of how you work and auditing your processes will identify waste areas and give you starting points to reduce costs.
Referring back to the software above, this can help you identify better routes, resign collections and deliveries to optimal routes, and assign jobs based on location to reduce road time and improve reliability for increased savings. Improving scheduling, increasing automation, and more can help you streamline costs and reduce your outgoings, offering a hopeful outlook for your business's future.
Many governments are adopting the circular economy in relation to waste management. The premise is that you move into a circle of reusing, repairing, and recycling as much as possible. For instance, you can repair and reuse equipment instead of buying new, or recycle materials from waste to create new products. This goes for the waste you collect and the resources you consume to carry out operational duties. The more you can reuse, the less waste is produced. This is common sense.
Taking it one step further and identifying how every single thing can be utilised effectively can help you to improve operations and cut costs while also improving your environmental impacts, which are vital in waste management.
Sit down and look at what happens to various sections of your business from beginning to end. This includes the equipment you might be retiring, what happens to it once it reaches the end of its natural life, and any resources you use for operations, e.g., computers, mobile phones, vehicles, etc., and put plans in place to help you integrate them into a circular economy so you use as much as possible without consuming more resources than needed.
To tackle landfill issues directly by starting with the source of waste, it is vital for the consumer to work towards improved efficiency. The less people know about proper and correct recycling practices, the harder your job will be and the more resources it will take for you to do what you need to do. By directly educating the people you serve, you can empower them to be part of the solution and improve waste allocation and redistribution, making them feel informed and proactive. This can lead to a reduction in waste, improved recycling rates, and a cleaner environment.
Directly educating your local clients can be an effective way to improve waste allocation, the speed with which you can redistribute collections, and the contents of waste receptacles you bring out your base.
A great place to start is the contamination of recyclables. People will generally think they are good at putting everything into a recycling container that can be recycled. However, figures suggest that 1 in 4 recyclable items are contaminated. This contamination reduces the quality of recycling and increases the staffing time taken to sort through waste. It can also increase hazards, and incorrect disposal of materials and contaminants can lead to expensive cleanup efforts.
A great way to tackle this is to directly produce and distribute materials, informing customers and your wider community of best recycling practices and the importance of working water before disposing of it. While you might not ultimately be able to reduce contamination, even small changes can boost your efficiency and help you improve your process in this area.
Suppose you are serious about moving forward with moving processes. In that case, you need to set realistic and achievable goals for your company by hitting targets and giving yourself something to work toward.
In the first instance, you need to look at your results now. What are your outcomes, what are our deliverables for customers and the inside as a whole, and what can you work towards?
Your goals can be in various areas to improve efficiency, be it employee retention, reducing road hours, increasing output, increasing your recycling abilities, or even reducing the number of hazards on site.
These goals need to be implemented on a one-by-one basis as per your company to help you achieve what you are capable of as a company.
Like many others, the global waste industry is constantly changing and evolving, and you need to be at the forefront of these changes and innovations as they occur. The more you know about what is happening in the industry, the more proactive changes you can make to help you enact improved methodologies for working, recycling, and the distribution of waste.
Start with the facilities you have in your local area. What are they, and how can you use them to improve your work? Then, look at national-level and international techniques to boost efficiency and improve your operations so that you can better serve your company and community.
The more you can change and the more intimate you know your operations, the easier it will be to increase your output, reduce waste as a company within the waste industry, and stay at the top of your game.
Your employees play a vital role in your efficiency, and if they often lack the skills, tools, or equipment to carry out their job roles correctly, this will cost you time and money. It does not matter how effective your processes are if the people working for you aren't able or capable of doing the job they're paid for.
Not only do they need basic training for their duties and the industry as a whole to work correctly and safely, but upskilling them can also have massive benefits.
Additionally, education can be used to train everyone on how to use all equipment correctly so you can rely on the team as a whole, not just one or two people. You can provide training and educational courses on spotting recycling opportunities, the industry as a whole, how to talk to and give out advice to customers, etc.
