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.          

How Can I Lower My Property's Trash and Recycling Expenses in Texas?

Do you own or manage a commercial property in Texas? Have you tried to find ways to lower your monthly overhead costs? Have you poured over your P & L statement in search of any areas where you can cut expenses? Have you ever thought about what your business pays for waste removal? Have you analyzed your monthly and annual expenses in this area, or even taken measures to reduce these costs?

Many Texans pay exorbitant rates for waste removal because they think of this cost as a fixed utility. Several small towns in Texas, including those along the border, have what appear to be "fixed costs" for trash and recycling removal because the city either picks up the trash themselves, or selects a hauling company to service businesses within the city limits. Some other towns have only one hauler, which limits your options for service. In larger metropolitan areas such as Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, there are more options for disposal and recycling service, however, many of the haulers in these markets charge businesses as much as they can get away with for service.

Global Trash Solutions (GTS) manages over 170 customer accounts in Texas, and we have developed cost savings strategies for our clients in Texas that translates to over 400K annually, averaging $237.00 monthly savings at the locations we serve in Texas. We have the relationships and expertise to help almost any business in Texas lower their waste and recycling costs substantially, whether they are located in a major city or rural town. If you would like us to audit your waste and recycling processes to help you obtain the most efficient and cost-effective waste management strategy, please contact us at (866) 760-8194.

Can My Grocery Store Benefit From a Trash Compactor?

Do you own a freestanding retail market store such as Publix, Trader Joe’s, Kroger, Winn-Dixie, Wegmans, Whole Foods, CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, or Target? Has the price of trash or recycling from your location gotten out of control? Have you ever asked yourself if your business is using technology to it’s advantage as it relates to keeping trash and recycling expenses under control? Have you seen your trash and recycling expenses creep up over the years--sometimes more than you expected?

As independent waste consultants, Global Trash Solutions (GTS) has revealed that many haulers and local municipalities, responsible for providing refuse and recycling service to grocery stores and other large retail outlets throughout the US, fail to completely educate their customers on the potential cost-saving technologies available to them. Many of our clients were left “in the dark” about equipment and cost saving strategies that have become second-nature to GTS. Trash overflow, exorbitant monthly trash and recycling costs, and paying for recyclable commodities that can actually be processed and sold or picked up for free, are some of the typical problems grocery and retail establishments face every day.

For example, GTS recently helped a natural foods market, Harvest Market, in Grass Valley, CA reduce their annual hauling expenses by over $13,000.00 on waste expenses by recommending a GTS CV-03 Compactor because their trash was consistently overflowing, and they required pick-ups nearly every day of the week on their standard non-compacted containers. GTS helped our customer by researching the cost of compacted trash, implementing all necessary changes, and providing a full-scale return on investment that we found to be most suitable for their application. Unlike many other compactor sales companies in the industry, GTS offers our full knowledge-base and expertise to our clients when helping them select compaction equipment that best suit their needs. GTS steps in and assists in negotiation with haulers or municipalities when necessary. If you would like a comprehensive analysis that details which equipment will be most cost-effective and efficient for your organization, please contact us at (866) 760-8194.

Image courtesy of Flickr.

How Can My Restaurant Chain in Rochester, New York Reduce It's Hauling and Recycling Expense?

Do you own a restaurant chain or single franchised location in or around Rochester, NY? Have you taken measures to reduce the amount you pay for trash hauling and recycling at your company, only to see them rise substantially over the months or years, only to realize that your costs began to rise the moment you took your finger off the pulse? Have you been to the table several times with your vendor, expressed your concerns, been put on a "special pricing program", and STILL seen your costs trend upward after an initial period of stability?

If you answered "yes" to any of the above questions, do not lose heart. You are one of the thousands of businesses in your community that has tried to navigate the perilous waters of the trash hauling industry, and ended up overpaying in spite of your best efforts. You may even be overpaying without realizing it. Global Trash Solutions (GTS) has had prospective customers tell us there is "no way" my staff can lower their restaurants trash or recycling costs. Most GTS clients in Rochester and around the country fit into one of the above categories. 

We understand that, chances are, you did not get into the restaurant business to haggle with trash vendors about the price of taking your garbage to the dump. However, whatever your intentions behind entering the chain restaurant industry were, you are faced with the dilemma of convincing a hauler not to charge you more than what is fair for trash service. Do you realize that no matter what vendor you use, the practice of charging various excessive fees is standard operation procedure for most hauling companies in the US?

That is where Global Trash Solutions comes into play. We have experience in helping major restaurant chains such as McDonald’s, Panera Bread, Burger King, Starbucks, KFC, and others reduce their expenses without taking their focus away from running their restaurants. We have the relationships and expertise to reduce your restaurant’s expenses by 40% or more. In June of 2014, we helped the Owner of five McDonald’s in the Rochester/Syracuse Market save over 46% on his hauling expenses. GTS has a very high success ratio in helping QSR chain stores lower their trash expenses, even when they think it is impossible. Please call us today at (866) 760-8194 for information on how we can help.  

Image courtesy of stockimages/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Is Your Waste Broker Actually Just a Hauler Pretending to be Impartial?

Do you own or work for a business that has elected to use a waste broker for the purpose of lowering costs, simplifying the billing process for multiple locations throughout a large territory, or any other reason? Have you or a member of your staff done extensive research on the broker you have elected to use? There are pros and cons to using waste brokers, however it is important to know the history of the broker you are using in order to avoid overpaying.

When selecting a Broker, please consider that all of the major haulers in the US have an extension of their company that acts as a “broker”, or supposed impartial third party, who in reality will use the parent company that owns them for service at your businesses locations, or at least use their landfills, which often leads to higher costs for you. For example, according to a press release in July of 2010, Waste Management, the America’s largest waste hauler, announced that it had acquired Oakleaf Holdings, America’s largest waste broker, for $425 Million dollars. Along with giving WM the ability to write national contracts that encompass areas their trucks may not service, this acquisition gave WM the free reign to haul any of the locations under management with Oakleaf or any of its branches. Some other examples of brokers owned by haulers are The William-Thomas Group, owned by Rumpke, Guardian Waste Group, owned by Advanced Disposal.

The major drawback to using the above mentioned companies to broker your businesses waste accounts is that you are essentially giving up your freedom to select the most cost effective vendors. The invoices from these companies are often not transparent and latent with a slew of miscellaneous surcharges and mystery fees that many businesses elect to use a broker to avoid. By choosing Global TrashSolutions as your single source for waste disposal and recycling service, you can be certain you are always paying the lowest available market rates while receiving the best available service because GTS is truly impartial and only offers objective opinions about the conditions of the hauling market in your region. We allow our customers to choose whatever vendor best suits them, but we hold these vendors accountable. Please call us today for more information at (866) 760-8194       

Image courtesy of stockimages/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How Can My Business Save Money on Garbage Hauling in New York City?

Do you own a business in New York City? Have you experienced price increases since the NYC Business Integrity Commission (BIC) who is responsible for regulating what haulers in the Big Apple are allowed to charge and preventing unethical business practices including price fixing, has raised the ceiling on what haulers are allowed to charge for waste and recycling pick up in NYC?  Does negotiating with your trash hauler sometimes seem like a shell game? Have you changed haulers one or more times and still had trouble keeping your costs under control?

Trash carters in NYC are notorious for practices such as offering customers a "teaser rate" to entire them to change services, only to raise their price a few months into the term, citing the weight of their garbage, inaccurate surveys, and the "effects of volume change" as reasons for price hikes. However, sometimes it is impossible to pin down the exact factors that go into calculating what NYC carters charge, such as route density, landfill expenses, overhead costs, and the refuse weight your business actually produces, and the amount of recyclables and cardboard your business produces, which offset the cost of disposal because they are baled and sold as commodities. The nice thing about doing business with haulers in NYC is that you can cancel your hauling contract for practically any reason, including price adjustments.

GlobalTrash Solutions (GTS) has forged relationships with some of the most honest carting companies in NYC, and has consulted for companies like McDonald's and Panera Bread. This translates to consistent service at fair market prices, and a single source provider for waste and recycling. Our clients save 40% on average by allowing us to negotiate for them and help them take the garbage problem off their plate. If you would like help keeping your costs under control, call us today at (866) 760-8194 for a free consultation!    

Compressed Natural Gas Fuel (CNG): Why Haulers Are Using It and How It May Affect Your Business

Have you ever wondered how much diesel fuel it must take to power all of the garbage trucks that run residential and commercial routes throughout the United States? Have you considered how these emissions effect the amount of smog in urban areas, and the overall air quality? Have you paid exorbitant fuel surcharges to waste hauling companies to offset their cost as diesel prices trend upward?

It may interest you to learn that many garbage truck fleets in both the public and private sector are embracing compressed natural gas (CNG) as an alternative fuel source to diesel. In fact, as of June 2014, CNG was used as the primary fuel source for approximately 10% of the nation's garbage truck fleet, with more and more companies investing in CNG trucks as their diesel trucks age and become costly to maintain. Many of the big names in the hauling industry are converting to CNG fueled trucks for environmental and long-term financial reasons, including Houston-based Waste Management, Jacksonville-based Advanced Disposal (the largest privately held hauling company in the US) and Longwood, FL based Waste Pro. In 2012, Waste Management announced that over the next five years it planned to purchase 80% of CNG powered trucks, and by 2017 to have over 50% of their fleet powered by CNG.

Although CNG trucks initially cost more per unit than traditional diesel trucks, they save each hauler approximately $27,000.00 annually per year in fuel costs, which make them attractive for financial reasons. CNG is also a greener alternative to diesel fuel, cutting down the use of 8,000 gallons of diesel fuel annually per truck. There is no risk of fuel leaks, as CNG evaporates when it leaves the fuel chamber, and it cuts down on emissions by roughly 50%.  The recent phenomenon of "fracking," or deriving natural gas from deposits in shale, has provided an abundant supply of CNG, which in turn has contributed to the growing reputation of CNG as the preferred fossil fuel for many trucking companies across a variety of different industries. CNG powered trucks have also been noted as being quieter and less costly to maintain than their diesel-fueled counterparts.

So, with the offset in fuel costs to haulers caused by this mass exodus from diesel-fueled trucks to their less expensive cousins, have you seen your hauling costs dropping? Practically every business would answer with a resounding "no." In our experience, we have found most of the customers who sign on with us pay a minimum of 25% in fuel or other surcharges, and if not, this cost is built into their existing price. That is why Global Trash Solutions is leading the way for many businesses in using our combined purchasing power and expertise to cut the expenses of companies like McDonald's, Panera Bread, Burger King, and many others. Please call us today at (866) 760-8194 for information about how we can help you get the best price available for trash and recycling service.          

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net/ vectorolie