Now more than ever is a time where everyone should be disposing of their waste responsibly, whether it be composting organic waste or recycling materials from paper to plastic. When you own a business, however, this takes waste disposal to a whole new scale.
Commercial waste disposal can be an arduous task, but that doesn’t make it any less important – in fact, if anything, it means the opposite, since there is so much more waste that needs to be disposed of consciously.
We’ve put together this guide to help you understand what you can do to properly dispose of your commercial waste, as well as why this is important and how it may actually be beneficial for your business. Keep reading on to find out more.
What Counts as Trade Waste Disposal?
Commercial or trade waste disposal includes the disposal of ALL waste materials produced by your business. This can include anything from across a range of industries, including (but not limited to):
- Paper
- Cardboard
- Organic waste (i.e. food waste, plant waste)
- Plastics
- Wood
- Construction materials
- Hazardous waste
Below, we’ve listed some of the steps you can take to reduce the amount of waste you produce in the first place.
- Reduce packaging waste by purchasing items in bulk where possible and preferably from companies with biodegradable, eco-friendly packaging
- Provide purified water and reusable glasses for staff to reduce bottle/plastic cups usage
- Donate any food waste to farmers that they can feed to their animals, or compost any organic food waste
- Establish recycling policies and train your staff on these
- If possible, go paperless (or reduce paper usage as much as possible)
- If working in the construction industry, have separate skips for separate materials
- Organise a waste collection by a responsible company with green initiatives
The Benefits of Using Commercial Recycling & Waste Disposal Services
Save & Earn Money
By having an efficient method of managing your waste, it is more likely that you will save your business some money. By doing some of the suggestions that we’ve mentioned above, for example, you will be saving money that you would otherwise be spending on resources you can actually manage without (e.g. paper, plastic cups, packaging etc.).
Reducing your waste as much as possible will also reduce the cost you’ll pay for commercial waste collection services, as there will be less waste for them to collect and sort. Speaking of these, a reliable and eco-friendly commercial waste disposal company, such as Cherry Hill Waste, also tends to be an affordable inclusion in a waste management plan, since they offer a quote tailored to your specific requirements, rather than a flat fee, so you know you won’t be overpaying for their services.
As well as saving money, there is also the potential to take this one step further and make money from having organised waste management. For example, if you have any metal that could be considered scrap, then it is usually worth something and can be sold to a willing buyer.
You could build a relationship with another business or individual who buys specific materials that would otherwise go to waste to reuses or recycles them and turn them into something new. Not only are they saving money and doing something good for the planet at the same time by not buying fresh or raw materials, but you are making a passive income on your waste while disposing of it.
Another example is if you invest in a compost bin, then you could sell the compost produced from this. Whether you offer local people to bring their own bags to you and pay for some compost based on weight, or if you bag it up (using biodegradable bags) into batches that can then be sold to your customers or people in the local community.
Reduce Carbon Footprint
Nowadays, it is expected of most businesses to have a good environmental policy, with people particularly praising those who have a sustainability ethos and admonishing those who don’t. The reason for this is to avoid the impact your business has on the environment as much as possible, which in turn reduces your carbon footprint.
A low carbon footprint is favourable for every business, as these tend to be particularly high given the precedence of national and global trade. However, whilst it’s possible to offset your carbon, this can be expensive to do, which is why other methods should also be exhausted – such as through using sustainable waste disposal services, which is also affordable to do!
Boost Morale
When you take steps to become a more ecologically concerned business, your staff will notice. There is no question that people love to be a part of a positive movement, so they will also want to get involved and you should fully encourage them to do so.
This will in turn leave them feeling proud to work for you, feeling good about the fact that they and the company they work for are working hard to make a positive difference in the world with your sustainable practices.
Furthermore, by efficiently disposing of all your waste, your working environment is also bound to improve, becoming tidier and more organised rather than having waste sitting around or being carelessly chucked into bins dotted around your working area and becoming unsightly. Having a tidy working area will increase collective mood and encourage staff to dispose of their waste responsibly so that it stays that way.
Impress Customers
It seems that wherever you look nowadays, you see something about a company participating in an initiative to help the environment (or perhaps the opposite), whether it’s a news article about a business using renewable energy to power their offices, or an advertisement for a business which sells products without plastic packaging. Either way, people notice.
Whether you realise it or not, your business is always being watched, and all it takes is for one right or wrong move for this number of people noticing you to multiply. Of course, you’ll want any gain in awareness to increase for positive reasons, which is why you should publicly establish the sustainability of your waste management plan.
People like to know that they’re buying products and/or services from a business that does good things for the environment, so to attract them to your business in particular, showcase the environmental benefits that you are working towards and how you’re going about doing so – such as cutting down your waste and recycling as much of it as possible.
Increase Business Opportunities
One of the greatest aids in achieving greater success as a business is by having the support of other businesses and organisations. Well, many of these (particularly the larger ones) actually have certain policies against working with companies that don’t look after or take active measures to reduce their impact on the environment.
By creating a solid waste management and recycling plan for your business and continuing to work towards reducing your carbon footprint where you can, you will appear more attractive to such companies and organisations, which in turn increase your prospective chances of entering business deals or collaborations with them.
In order to make it apparent that you are environmentally conscious, then it’s a good idea to publicise the measures you take to be more environmentally friendly, which can boost awareness of your business to both these other businesses as well as potential customers.
Cherry Hill Waste
If you live in Stoke-on-Trent or the surrounding area and are looking for a waste collection company to collect the waste your business produces, then you need Cherry Hill Waste.
We have supplied leading commercial skip hire and trade waste collection solutions to a variety of clients since 1982, offering our services at competitive rates within the industry. In addition to this, we pride ourselves on being the most eco-friendly commercial waste collection company in the area.
Sustainability is important to us, which is why we are committed to recycling around 90% of the waste that we collect, so you can rest assured that we will dispose of your commercial waste efficiently and responsibly.
To enquire about our services, get in touch with use today for your free, no obligation quote.
