How Can My Company Cut Costs on Waste Service in Colorado?

• Do you own a business in a major metropolitan area of Colorado such as Denver or Boulder?
• Are you located in a more rural market in Western Colorado where you feel your options for waste and recycling service are limited? 
• Have you become frustrated with the outcome of the relationship with your current hauling company? 
• Were you led to believe you would be charged a single flat monthly price for quality service, and instead seen a series of price increases and miscellaneous surcharges appear on your invoices like rude, uninvited dinner guests on your doorstep? 
• Has your quality of service declined, or do you simply expect more from the capital you are spending every month on waste and recycling service? 
• Have you wondered why dumping your trash has become so expensive, or sought ways to lower cost through recycling?

Waste and recycling service has become an albatross to many business owners in Colorado, just as it has in practically every other state in the union. The reasons are not very different than those in other states where business owners find themselves overpaying for waste hauling services. Many business owners feel like they are playing a game of whack-a-mole (only these moles are gluttonous, and devour profits). The moment they trim one area of their waste and recycling expenses, whether by changing companies, or renewing with their current hauler under the premise that they will pay less for service, another aspect of this cost invariably rises. You may have seen increases in recycling fees, extra trash charges because the lid does not close one morning, and the garbage truck driver gets artistic and decides to take a picture of your dumpster, or any number of 3-letter acronyms followed by the word “fee”. Many hauling companies billing practices have become so complex that even their own employees have a difficult time explaining the bills!

Global Trash Solutions (GTS) has developed cost savings strategies for over 3,000 businesses around the US, and has been helping businesses in Colorado cut hauling costs for over two years. No matter what challenges your business may face with respect to waste and recycling services, GTS can help! Please contact us today at (866) 760-8194 so we can help you reduce your costs.        

Which Commercial Trash Compactor Is Best for My Company?

• Do you manage a business that uses trash compactors or balers to reduce the volume of waste on site, or bale recyclable commodities so they can be palletized and sold? 
• Did you buy or inherit a business that had an old trash compactor on site that you think of as a nothing more than a foul-smelling eyesore with no practical application? 
• Are you aware of the cost benefit to compacting waste? 
• Are you considering purchasing a commercial trash compactor because you are tired of paying several hundred or thousand dollars monthly for multiple dumpsters that occupy a substantial amount of space on your property? 
• Are you considering a commercial trash compactor for another reason, such as aesthetics, security, or loss prevention, but do not know where to start when considering what kind of compactor to buy?

There are about as many kinds of compactors available on the market as there are types of businesses who can use them, so it can be difficult for business owners to know where to look or what kind of compactor to consider purchasing. Global Trash Solutions (GTS) is a great source for information about what compactor will best suit your business’ needs. GTS also understands how difficult and frustrating it can be to deal with some of the companies out there that pick up waste and recyclables. We happily provide insight into the waste industry and information on how to get the best deal for service on whichever compactor is best for your business. At GTS, we pride ourselves on offering comprehensive solutions for businesses of all shapes and sizes!

At grocery stores, restaurants, casinos, resorts, and other facilities that produce large volumes of wet waste, GTS would likely recommend one of the many self-contained “GTS-SC” models that we offer, or for smaller applications like fast food restaurants with limited space, we might recommend our GTS X-press Pack series or an indoor model such as the GTS 2000. For transfer stations, recycling facilities, and distribution centers, we usually recommend horizontal balers with a conveyer system, or auto-tie balers that can produce multiple bales of all types of recyclable plastic and cardboard per hour. For recyclers with smaller operations, we offer a full line of vertical balers. We even offer drum crushers, pre-crushers (for pallets) and residential compactors for high-rise buildings and residential communities. If you would like to consult with us about what commercial compactor will best suit your needs and save you the most money, please contact us today at (866) 760-8194.  

Waste Compactors Save Fast Food Restaurants Money

• Do you own one or more fast-food restaurants or fast-casual dining establishments? 
• Have you noticed that the waste disposal expenses at your restaurants are a substantial cost to you each month? 
• Have your costs risen over the previous months and years? 
• Have you examined different ways to mitigate these costs for your business, but found this to be a daunting, if not impossible task? 
• Are you aware that each month thousands of quick-service restaurants and fast-casual dining establishments such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Panera Bread, Chick-Fil-A, and many others save money by compacting?

Waste disposal is a rising cost for practically all fast-food and fast-casual establishments. Whether sales are rising or decreasing at the restaurants, waste disposal seems to be an ever-increasing line item on the P&L statements. What some multi-unit chain store operators do not realize is that most waste haulers’ standard rate structures are based on the volume of trash collected in cubic yards. For instance, an 8 cubic yard dumpster serviced 5 times weekly may cost a restaurant $1,000.00 monthly. However, if the restaurant begins compacting their trash using an indoor or outdoor compactor (whichever is more efficient given their trash composition and space limitations) it could reduce the monthly expense to $400.00 or less. That is because they effectively cut the number of lifts and volume of trash from 40 yards per week to 16 – a 60% reduction!

Global Trash Solutions (GTS) realized this years ago, and has been spreading the good news to fast food restaurant and fast-casual restaurant owners ever since. In most cases, the compactors GTS supplies to its customers pays for itself in less than two years, and offers more than $10,000.00 annually in waste cost reduction. GTS not only supplies equipment, they facilitate the removal of old equipment and use their negotiation skills to ensure their clients always pay the best possible rate for service for the life of the business. Please contact them today for a free quote or consultation at (866) 760-8194.

Does My Waste Hauler’s Driver Suffer from “Lazy Driver Syndrome?”

• Do you own a business whose location or chain of locations generate a large volume of waste? 
• Do you often fill up your dumpster and have staff calling you panicked, worried that the health department is going to come shut you down? 
• Do you pay for strange charges for waste management such as “extra yardage fees” or “snapshot charges?” Are your corral doors left open after the hauler comes, leaving your dumpster(s), which you would prefer to keep veiled in secrecy, naked and exposed to customers and clients?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, your hauler may have drivers who suffer from what is commonly referred to in the waste industry as “LDS” or “lazy driver syndrome.” Symptoms of LDS include trash left on the floor of the dumpster area after the driver has emptied the containers, open corral gates that drivers are too lazy to get out of their truck and close after emptying your trash dumpsters, and, in severe cases, broken pylons or corral gates due to the driver closing the corral gate by driving his truck slowly into it, so as not to leave the foul-smelling comfort of his garbage truck. These symptoms are coupled with intervals of sporadic creative photography, during which sufferers of LDS take multiple pictures of your dumpsters when the lids do not fully close and send them to you with a letter stating  that you will be charged X amount of dollars on your next invoice for “extra yardage” or a “snapshot fee.” These letters often encourage you to increase service permanently for what may have simply been a busy weekend.

     If you think your garbage truck driver may have LDS, and you would like to help them so your parking lot will become more aesthetically pleasing and your waste expenses low, please contact Global Trash Solutions (GTS.) GTS is certified in the diagnosis and treatment of LDS. We can help your business save money on waste and recycling, and improve the quality of your service without changing your trash hauler. Please call us today at (866) 760-8194 for a comprehensive analysis of your spending and service, and guaranteed financial savings.

What Is Going On with Commercial Trash Service in Los Angeles?

Are you interested in lowering your trash and recycling cost in Los Angeles? Do you own a commercial property or chain of commercial properties that need help in this area? Have you heard about what is happening in Los Angeles with regard to the upcoming mandates for business owners and property managers? Do you realize that you may soon lose your freedom to choose what hauler picks up your garbage in LA County?

In April of 2014, the city passed a new law, which in effect divides the city into 11 different zones. The city is currently collecting bids from 15 different waste and recycling vendors in the area, and will soon award exclusive contracts to each hauler for the 11 different zones. The LA Bureau of Sanitation projected that the municipal hauler contracts will be in place by January of 2017. What does this mean for you as a business owner or property manager? For one thing, it means that your disposal rate will probably go up. Global Trash Solutions (GTS) has experience consulting for businesses in hundreds of municipalities where the city contracts waste services for its businesses, and on average the cost to dispose of trash in these areas is much higher. 

Take Millbrae, for instance, a city in the Bay Area where Recology Inc (DBA SSF Scavenger) holds the current contract for disposal and recycling. The disposal cost for trash is $32.24/cubic yard, or $415.89 for one-time weekly service on a 3 yard container. In Los Angeles, equivalent service goes for roughly $100.00 per month or less. The Bureau of Sanitation says that this initiative is part of a larger plan to have zero waste implemented by 2025. In the Bay Area, the cities and towns have incentivized more recycling by making disposal extremely expensive.

GTS can help your business in Los Angeles save money on trash and recycling whether or not the city has a contract with a hauler. GTS has saved a large sum of money for clients in the Bay Area, as well as businesses in municipalities in 48 states across the country. Please contact us at (866) 760-8194 for information about how we can help you minimize your disposal costs.

How Can My Restaurants in San Diego Save Money on Trash Service?

Do you own one or more restaurants in the greater San Diego area? Have you found that your waste costs are a substantial portion of your restaurant utility costs? Have you ever noticed these costs rising without explanation? Have you taken steps to lower your costs, but months later realized that your costs had risen back to the original amount, or even more? Do you know what steps, if any, your individual restaurants in San Diego are taking to reduce this recurring expense?

​Many chain-store and fast-casual restaurants in San Diego are overpaying for trash and recycling without realizing it. The age-old practice of overcharging customers for waste removal and setting them up with service agreements that contain unfavorable terms buried in fine print is rampant in San Diego. This pricing epidemic is not unique to San Diego, it appears to be a national problem for all business owners, large and small alike. The average hauler will increase your rates to almost triple what you were paying by the end of your second year under contract with them if you do not get help from an industry expert such as Global Trash Solutions (GTS.)

GTS most recently applied our waste consulting acumen in San Diego, CA by helping a local McDonald's Franchisee. Through our tried and true recommendations for chain store operators, vendor relationships, and negotiation tactics, GTS helped reduce his expenses by more than 50% at his restaurants in San Diego and Chula Vista. GTS employs proprietary tactics that we have learned through years of working one-on-one with multi-unit chain store operators. These tactics are proven to help practically any restaurant owner save money anywhere in he US - and San Diego is no exception. If you would like help bringing your waste and recycling expenses down, please contact us today at (866) 760-8194.         

What Happens When Waste Management Loses a Billion Dollar Contract?

Do you live in an area where the city government decides what hauler you must use for waste, recycling, or organic waste disposal? Have you ever been curious about how your city chooses the hauler you are required to use, or dissatisfied with their decision?

On Monday, August 18, 2014, Waste Management filed a lawsuit against the City of Oakland, CA, where they formerly held a ten year agreement to collect all of the city’s residential waste and recyclables. Waste Management (WM) sued the city because they lost the 1 billion dollar contract to a local company, California Waste Solutions, who WM’s legal team claims lack the infrastructure and stability to service the City of Oakland. However, Rebecca Kaplan, Councilwoman for the City of Oakland, said she and her associates on the city council voted 7-1 in favor of California Waste Solutions because they offered residents the best deal. California Waste Solutions offered to charge residents nearly $7.00 less than what WM offered in their proposal, which would collectively save residents over $200 Million, said Kaplan. Waste Management's proposal would have almost doubled the residents of Oakland were formerly paying for service.

GlobalTrash Solutions (GTS) is no stranger to the controversy surrounding city hauling agreements (AKA "franchise agreements.”) As consultants, we help our clients to navigate the sometimes murky waters of franchise agreements, and make sure haulers are playing by the rules. We pride ourselves on overriding franchise agreements on a number of occasions for reasons we cannot disclose to the public. However, we see these long term agreements as a challenge and an opportunity for our clients to save money in an area where they may have felt that their "hands were tied." 

GTS is not a waste hauler, but we hold haulers accountable by auditing our client's expenses and processes to ensure they are getting the most efficient and economical trash service. To learn more about our program, please call us at (866) 760-8194.