It is more than being “green”, there is an opportunity to create business value with sustainable practices.
By Geoff Aardsma
As the industry continues to evolve, there is a significant opportunity for waste and recycling companies to grow their businesses, develop new ways to differentiate from the competition, and reduce the environmental impact of waste management. The industry is facing challenges that make recognizing this opportunity seem daunting. On the one hand, there are increases in the amount of waste being produced, the different types of waste being produced, and limited landfill/incineration capacity. On the other, businesses are managing growing regulations and legislation impacting waste and recycling, consumer interest in how material is disposed of, the increasing costs and complexity of maintaining equipment, and the difficulty of finding and maintaining employees. These challenges are leading to competitive pressures that are pushing companies to digitize operations to capture efficiencies and improve customer service.
With all of these challenges, waste and recycling companies face a competitive environment that leaves little room for error. Companies need to optimize efficiencies across every segment of the business to remain viable, competitive, and on a path to positive growth. Growth minded companies that think strategically about sustainability are using strategies based on sound business and sustainable practices to increase market share and expand their margins. Sustainability practices might sound like something that will increase costs. For waste and recycling companies, though, using sustainable practices across the business is the key to controlling costs as well as attracting and retaining customers going forward. Every company has its own definition of what sustainable means, but in the waste and recycling industry, sustainability is not just an environmental term. It is a core tenet of successful businesses. Performance sustainability means higher valued services (price leadership), delivered more efficiently (cost control and higher productivity), and backed by greater transparency for key stakeholders (credible data and analytics) increasing the barrier to entry for competitors.
Benchmarking Sustainability
Every company sets sustainability goals in a way that is unique to them. For successful waste and recycling companies, sustainable practices weave through every part of their business. For example, companies focus on everything from how to handle materials, use equipment, and support their people, which includes employees, customers, and the communities in which they operate. Those organizations that can leverage sustainable practices into growth are telling a consistent story that drives value to the business and the planet and showcases how that translates to value for their customers.
If you look at companies in today’s waste and recycling industry, you will find that many are already excellent operators. They must be to stay competitive. These companies responsibly manage materials with the latest technology, and are forward thinking about driving well-maintained, fuel-efficient fleets. They use equipment in ways that minimize the impact on the bottom line and the environment. In addition, they take care of their people with training, a focus on safety, career advancement opportunities, and other support.
Companies are Already Using Sustainable Practices For Materials, Equipment, and People
Companies are using technologies such as waste stream management, AI for material recovery and sorting, as well as waste-to-energy to bolster their sustainability efforts. When it comes to maintaining their fleet and other equipment, waste and recycling companies are using technology to optimize collection routes. They are meticulously maintaining vehicles and equipment, so they operate at maximum efficiency and cleanliness and last a long time. When it comes time to replace vehicles, they are, in some cases, turning to EVs to minimize environmental impact. Companies are using data analytics to establish competitive pricing and to identify which markets hold opportunities for service expansion, growth, and profit. These types of technology help to support greater efficiency in collecting, sorting, and recycling or recovering waste.
In this operations environment, there is no room for missteps and absolutely every resource must be used at maximum productivity. This includes staff. In the competitive labor market, waste and recycling companies are fostering loyalty and minimizing costly turnover by ensuring safety best practices, offering CDL drivers and other specialized training, and providing paths for growth to employees. Sustainable practices for waste and recycling companies really help to provide long-term benefits to the communities they serve. This could include increased environmental protection, resource conservation, the creation of environmentally friendly jobs, more awareness within the community, economic savings, and much more.
Images courtesy of AMCS.
Sustainability is Not an Outcome, it is a Strategy
Yes, sustainability is about lessening the impact on the planet, and all the tactics discussed help waste and recycling companies do just that. However, sustainability is about more than the planet, as important as that is. Sustainability can also mean maximizing resources so that companies can weather unpredictable pressures outside of their control. Supply chain issues, weather events, labor challenges, and equipment challenges, can all provide unexpected roadblocks. Excellent operations within the three pillars of materials, equipment, and people enable companies to consistently provide great customer service, establish a strong reputation, and grow the value of their business over time. Companies that have a value-minded approach by keeping their costs low can in some instances justify higher competitive prices and still have long relationships with their customers. They can withstand competitive pressures long term.
For waste and recycling companies that want to thrive in this market, sustainability is not a cost burden to meet regulatory requirements. It is an incentive to build processes that will achieve growth with higher margins in the future. It is a starting point to weave efficiency into the fabric of an organization. Going forward, technology can help them capture their sustainability story, so they can efficiently tell it to customers, which will help them maintain those customers and draw new ones. By scaling sustainable practices to support business growth, today’s waste and recycling companies can go from excellent operators to superior ones. Doing this will enable them to expand the positive impact on their business, employees, and the community, and keep them thriving in the marketplace for years to come. | WA
Geoff Aardsma is Vice President of Solutions, North America, for AMCS Group. He is responsible for guiding the strategic direction of the AMCS Solution Suite to meet the needs of customers and an ever-evolving market. Prior to this role, he led the AMCS Professional Services team in North America to ensure successful end-to-end deployment and maximum adoption of AMCS platform and solutions for customers. Geoff started his career with WM in regulated and special waste and post-collection and worked with teams focused on recycling, organics, and sustainability consulting. He also has start-up experience bringing container sensors and optimization software to commercialization. He can be reached at [email protected].