Technology-enabled waste services provide benefits for waste generators and haulers.
By Geoff Aardsma
The beginning of a New Year is the perfect time to reflect on the previous 12 months and use those experiences to think about how to make 2018 an even better year—for yourself, your company, your staff and, most importantly, in many cases, for your customers.
This process of looking back to plan ahead can apply to many aspects of an organization—including waste. As we ring in the New Year, what is on your resolutions list?
Use Data-Driven Insights to Set 2018 Goals
The waste industry has been traditionally based on assumptions. Relying on observation and manual reporting to track dumpster fill levels is inefficient and often inaccurate as it is prone to human error. For many end users, once they sign a contract for their waste collection schedule, there is no verification that the pickups actually occur. On average, 9 percent of scheduled waste collections are missed. These often go unknown—until it is too late and an overflow becomes a visible problem to employees, or worse, to their customers which impacts brand reputation for cleanliness and safety.
Waste technology can remove the guessing. It can help us move from an industry that is perceived as difficult to measure to one that is helping a variety of other industries better understand their operational needs through data-driven insights. Is 2018 the year that we will adopt a more efficient, informed approach to waste collection and service as an industry?
Using data to understand trash and recycling streams and leverage those insights to create benchmarks can also help waste generators to set smart, achievable operational goals that will drive success in the New Year.
Dumpsters Had Technology on Their Holiday Wish List, Too
We know that the holidays are a hectic time of year, not only for waste generators as most businesses see spikes in traffic or fluctuations with customer engagement, but also for waste haulers. Several factors like winter weather and changes in waste volume, can lead to inconsistent waste collection and resulting frustrations from hauler customers. But, having a better understanding of waste streams during this traditionally unpredictable time can not only reduce those headaches as they adjust schedules to match changes in waste volume at specific locations, but it can also help haulers to deliver more consistent, quality service for their customers.
Technology-enabled services use container sensors to monitor trash volume and provide data that can improve waste management programs. IoT technology replaces assumption with data in the waste and recycling industry. Connected technology within dumpsters enables more efficient and accurate collections and provides confirmation to the hauler’s client that the services they had contracted them for were delivered.
Waste technology is not a new concept, but it may not be top of mind for waste generators who are inundated with new technology almost daily. End users are likely already using innovative technology solutions in nearly every aspect of their business. With data coming in from thousands or even millions of points across an organization’s operations, it can be overwhelming.
But, it does not have to be. Connected technology will enable a future for waste management that empowers waste generators to be more educated about their waste needs. They will be able to take advantage of more efficient and cost-effective waste and recycling collections, as well as use those data-driven insights to improve other aspects of their operations, such as addressing equipment downtime or ensuring that staff time focuses on serving customers rather than resolving a waste issue.
See Benefits Throughout the Supply Chain
The transparency that waste data provides can be beneficial to both waste generators and haulers. For those who do not talk waste every day, it can be difficult to understand the complexities of our industry. There are so many pieces—from waste generation to collection to sorting and disposal—that every partner throughout that process may not have a good understanding of what is really happening. And if an issue occurs, this can cause frustration and debate to try to uncover what went wrong and identify the necessary solution. Using waste data can eliminate that debate so that the focus can instead be on more productive tasks like achieving operational or environmental goals more quickly, and it can ultimately create a better alignment between haulers and their customers, which has a positive effect on everyone throughout the supply chain.
Waste data allows us to be smarter about the way waste is collected. We are able to use insights from the data in end user dumpsters to implement more efficient routes, evaluate driver performance in the field, adjust collection schedules to match actual waste needs and ensure that pickups happen when containers are full, not half empty. And it makes it easier for haulers to communicate all of these points to their clients.
In an industry that has traditionally had to address problems reactively, like when a customer calls the hauler to report an overflowing bin that has already caused other issues with their operations as a result, we can make a shift to being more proactive. Trash and recycling audits to learn more about the waste streams, as well as continuously monitor fill levels, and give a clear picture of waste generation so that a potential problem can be addressed sometimes before it even gets noticed by the waste generator.
Raise the Bar in 2018 with Technology-Enabled Waste Services
In the waste industry, we often find that waste management can be a small line item in the operations budget so it’s not typically a top priority on the long list of responsibilities for facility managers or building operators. That is why it is even more important to show the value of efficient, cost-effective waste management in and beyond the dumpster.
For waste haulers and generators alike, 2018 could be the year to consider raising the bar on waste management by working with a technology-enabled waste services partner. A waste services partner can not only offer the data from container sensors, but also go beyond that to continually monitor, analyze and offer insights on that data. Using those insights can help haulers to understand what is working and implement improvements to better serve their customers in the New Year. It is hard to predict what 2018 will bring, but I am confident that making changes now based on data will benefit waste generators, haulers and the industry.
Geoff Aardsma is VP of client services at Enevo. He focuses his expertise on optimizing waste collection systems and empowering waste generators to reduce their environmental impact. A diverse background in several aspects of solid waste management gives Geoff a balanced perspective on the challenges facing the industry today. For more information, visit http://www.enevo.com/.