The Profitability Of Recycling

Obviously we are big fans of recycling, but we also understand when our customers ask us, “OK, but how much does it cost?” They are often surprised when we tell them that recycling containers are an investment that will pay for themselves fairly quickly.

Recycling ROI

Trash is an expense. That’s because it has no value to the refuse handlers. It is a waste product to be shipped and dumped. It generates no revenue other than the pickup costs. However don’t confuse trash with waste. Waste includes trash but it also includes potentially recyclable material and that’s where things get interesting.

The contents of your recycling containers are a valuable commodity. It is a resource that can be processed into materials and products that can be resold. It’s valuable. Since a recycler can make money after hauling your recyclables away, the company can charge less for the haulage than a trash hauler can and still make a good profit. How much less depends on too many factors to provide a simple formula, but recycling services should always charge less than trash services do.

Recycling As Part Of A Larger Plan

Recycling containers are only one of the three Rs of waste disposal, the other two being Reduce and Reuse. All three of these strategies reduce costs and boost profits. One of the easiest ways for companies to reduce is to use less paper. We may never reach the truly paperless office, but your company can probably cut the amount of paper used by using email, PDF files, electronic billing and other digital solutions.

We live in a disposable society and it’s easy to just buy more, especially when that something is cheap. However take a moment before throwing something away. Could the contents of your paper recycling bins be kept as scratch paper or shredded for packing material? Could that computer, obsolete by your standards but not by others, be a gift to an underfunded school in your community?

The State Of The World Affects The State Of Your Company

It’s easy to ignore some of the benefits of recycling like climate change or cleaner air because you can’t put those on the company’s balance sheet. Yet it would be foolish to ignore that what you do with your recycling containers does have long-term effects that affect your business’s future.

The more you recycle, the less money the city has to spend on landfills and the lower your taxes get. The cleaner the air, the healthier your employees are and the lower your rates of absenteeism. The less new plastic generated, the less demand on petroleum driving up prices. It might be hard to wrap your head around these big picture views, but understand that they do affect your organization.

We understand that you have practical and immediate concerns when it comes to running your company. We just want to be sure you appreciate how beneficial recycling containers are to a financially healthy business.