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With waste disposal costs, like gate fees, on the rise across the UK, waste brokers need to work smarter to manage costs and provide value to their existing customers.

While tax increases and the cost associated with regulation are out of your control, there are areas of your business where creative thinking and the right partnerships can make you more productive, improve your margins, and pass some savings on to customers.

Are you finding the numbers harder and harder to manage? Here are three strategies that might help your business boost productivity and lower costs while simultaneously improving your service offering.

Divert, Divert, Divert

It has never been more expensive to send waste to a landfill. Whether you are a household, a business, or a waste broker, waste diversion efforts have sent the cost-per-tonne of landfill waste to £96.70, with a promise of increasing the rates each year.

The best opportunity to avoid those high landfill costs is to minimise waste sent to a landfill in the first place. But how do you achieve this as a waste broker?

Recycling and composting aren’t new concepts in waste management, but you might be surprised at what even waste experts might be currently sending to the landfill that would otherwise be recycled.

Of course, there are rigid plastics, metal and scrap metal, paper and cardboard; all of these are diverted. However, carpet is a great example of a product traditionally sent into the skip that can be recycled. There are also evolving methods for diverting organic agricultural waste from landfills. And of course, you can even create spaces within your premises to give things like furniture or books a second life, creating a new income stream and participating in the circular economy.

You may find it helpful to get in touch with your local council or the Environment Agency to learn more about the latest opportunities for waste diversion and cost savings.

Educate Customers on Waste Reduction

Diversion is key, but as a waste broker, you serve as one of the final links in the waste chain. If you want to truly impact the way you manage waste, it’s important to work back one further link: your customers.

One of the best ways to streamline your waste broker business and boost client retention is through education. As an authority on waste, your business is in a unique position: you have the expertise needed to coach customers on their own waste management, from waste generation to removal.

Consider sharing information with clients on conducting a waste audit. A waste audit will help them identify areas where they can eliminate waste and identify recycling opportunities that they might currently be missing. For example, you might have clients mixing soft plastics with general waste when they could be recycling those soft plastics.

Other ways to continually educate customers include:

• Regular newsletters to your key points of contact
• Phone calls to communicate critical changes
• Events or webinars to exchange ideas, share new processes, or provide updates

Regular communication and education will not only strengthen your customer relationships but make it easier to do your job.

Work with Other Waste Management Solution Providers

As with any industry, businesses like your own rely on a network of other professionals. Through working and consulting with customers, specialist waste management providers, waste treatment facilities, and suppliers, you might be surprised to find a number of creative solutions that can help to minimise waste and vehicle movements, and boost productivity.

At LSM, we work to help upper tier waste brokers better manage diverted waste with recycling and waste baling solutions. Our compactors and balers can help you to increase productivity by freeing up space in transfer and storage facilities, which can help you to boost efficiencies in labour, fuel and vehicle maintenance by reducing the level of vehicle movements required. Contact our team today to learn more on how partnering with us can help your overall waste management goals.