Recycling plays a major role in US industry. A lot of the raw materials that go into the manufacturing process across various industries constitute recycled materials.
For manufacturing organizations and factories, managing the waste stream is a major challenge. Recycling commodities make up a large part of the waste stream and making sure that little to no commodities end up in landfill, end up in landfills is a matter of critical importance.
Most businesses today are under pressure to reduce waste and ensure that their carbon footprints and environmental impact remain as low as possible. The conversations around climate change and the change in customer preferences are key to this shift.
Ensuring waste is managed efficiently thereby cutting costs, is an attractive option for most businesses. But this is easier said than done. Waste Control is at the forefront of advanced waste management services and also helps clients boost their bottom line through interventions. We shed light into how this is done in this blog. Let’s take a look.
Why Do You Need a Comprehensive Plan for Recycling Commodities?
Let’s discuss why a plan and strategy are needed in the first place. Waste streams for most businesses consist of different types of waste that are accumulated from various parts of the process. waste, if not managed properly, ends up being very expensive to deal with. Merely finding haulers who will take the waste off the property is not enough. You will most certainly end up with higher costs than expected, and often have to deal with refused services and a lot more complications.
To make sure that the waste commodities which can be recycled are properly processed and reach the correct recycling facilities, you need a more comprehensive approach. Firstly, it needs to start with waste reduction. This process involves taking a closer look at your processes and cutting down on waste wherever possible.
The plan should also consider other aspects. Here are some questions to help:
- What points of generation and processes are producing waste and in what amount?
- How can you sort waste more effectively?
- Does the waste being produced need further processing before it gets transported to the recyclers?
- Which of the waste commodities can be sold to buyers?
These are just some questions that help you get a better sense of your facilities waste stream and how you should manage it.
Beyond this, there are regulatory and sustainability considerations. What are the hazardous waste products that you are dealing with? How are you disposing of these materials? How much of the waste is ending up in landfills? Are you looking at ways to reduce your waste generation? What recycling programs can you make use of? How do you move towards being a zero-waste business? Answering these questions helps you get closer to a more efficient waste management strategy.
Recycling commodities ultimately needs to be dealt with at the source and this strategy will help you do that. Once you identify what are the waste commodities that are to be recycled, you will be able to sort and segregate this at the source and process these commodities appropriately.
Getting a professional waste management service is a great option as they will help you conduct a waste audit, understand your requirements, help you find the right vendors to deal with the various types and amounts of waste, and also help you find the right equipment. These will help you cut down on costs effectively.
Approaches to Managing Recycling Commodities Waste Streams
While a strategy is important, success comes down to how well you execute it. Here are some top ways in which we help organizations manage waste streams for recyclable commodities and thus impact the bottom line.
Material Recovery at the Source
Segregating the waste commodities at the source is a definite winning strategy. You need to make sure that the waste commodities that you have in your facility find their way to specific collection areas. Aggregate similar waste products in separate bins and then you can proceed to sort and clean(if necessary) these for further processing.
Identifying the waste commodities to be separated happens when you are doing the audit. Post this, you can create separate workflows for segregating each type of waste and collecting it separately. Cardboards and other packaging materials are very popular commodities that have huge demands in the market. Similarly, separate the various grades of plastic, Polystyrene, metals, and other materials right at the source.
The solid waste thus collected may need to be further processed before it can be sent to the recycling facility. Baling is one common step in this process as it reduces the size of the haul significantly. You may also have to remove contaminants from these materials to ensure good quality to command a premium price.
Segregating at source also needs some handholding for your employees. It is important to train the staff to properly collect and store waste materials. Issue clear directives as to how to deal with each kind of waste, and how to make sure that the waste commodities collected can be handled so that they can be recycled effectively.
Waste Control’s services help you conduct a thorough audit, identify the materials to be collected, train the employees and also make sure that you are following the best practices when it comes to segregating and recovering the waste commodities at the source.
Consolidating the Services
Recycling waste commodities also helps you cut costs. Waste management can often end up being a major cost center if you are doing the whole process inefficiently. The right approach makes sure that your recycling initiatives reuse a lot of the materials additionally saving you money.
Consolidating all your waste management services is a critical step in the process. Dealing with waste in a piecemeal fashion will most probably end up costing you more. Having a single service provider helps you cut down on a lot of unwanted expenses, and also cut down on administration costs, paperwork, and overall time.
There is also a need for more accurate reporting. Your service providers should be able to give you the exact amount of waste you have diverted from landfills. This is an important metric as many regulations in California and EPA regulations have diversion targets for organizations to comply with. Having a single service provider helps you accurately determine the amount.
The ability to recycle multiple commodities in one place is also important. Doing this enables you to cut transport costs and saves you the hassle of finding different recyclers for different needs. This greatly eases the pressure on the supply chain as well.
Having a consolidated service provider helps you reduce the overheads involved in waste management, streamlines waste disposal, and also helps you deal with waste that is not recyclable too. Like composting food waste, dealing with demolition waste, incineration of waste, and other such services.
Waste Control manages the waste streams from end to end, dealing with all types of “delete” volumes of waste and helping your organization boost the bottom line.
Waste Equipment – How Waste Equipment Can Help Hone Your Bottom Line
Waste equipment also plays a big part in ensuring the proper handling of waste products. While dealing with recycling commodities, balers are a critical part of the process. There are several other types of equipment that help make the process of waste management more efficient.
Balers help compress the materials into bales that can be easily transported to the recycling facility. Balers essentially compress various materials such as cardboard, plastic, metal, and textiles into predetermined bale” compressed cube” sizes. These can then be moved easily using forklifts and trucks. By reducing the size of the waste commodity, you save on the space that is needed and thus saving you the cost of transportation and ultimately improving logistics efficiency
What are the Different Types of Balers?
Vertical Balers
Vertical balers compress the commodities through a downward force to create bales of the required size. These balers are small in size and are ideal for use in environments with limited space. Vertical balers are usually not useful in dealing with large amounts of waste due to their smaller size.
Horizontal Balers
Horizontal balers have a larger footprint and can deal with larger quantities of recyclable commodities. These balers work using rams to compress the materials that are inserted in them into bales. Some of these balers have multiple rams for more heavy-duty applications and also come with auto-tie options to tie the bales at the end of the process.
While balers come in more types, these two are the most commonly used varieties.. Balers are essential in your recycling process. Waste Control helps you in the procurement of the right baler for your needs as per the assessment.
There are many options for you to choose from including brands, capacities, and other specifications. You can also choose to buy refurbished ones or new bales according to your needs. Waste Control also helps you rent or lease balers if you are not willing to invest in buying a baler.
Parting Thoughts
Recycling waste is one of the most important challenges we have in front of us today. The United Nations, The US Government, and other bodies are all pushing for more recycling everywhere including municipal solid waste and industrial waste. The US industry depends a lot on recycled products and it is the responsibility of all businesses to reduce the waste as much as possible and to recycle wherever possible.
Recycling is a great option to help manage the environmental impact of your business. It is also a great way to generate income from your waste stream and ultimately reduce your waste management costs.
Waste Control’s expertise in waste management helps you deal with all kinds of recyclable and non-recyclable waste you generate effectively. We consolidate your waste management in one place, help you keep track of where your waste is going, and how much is being recycled. Talk to us to get started on better waste management today!