A Creative Solution for a Retail Chain Spending Too Much on Waste Removal

By now you already know that iSustain offers creative solutions for Recycling, but did you know we also offer creative solutions for reducing costs on the removal of your Waste?

One recent example of this creativity was a result of a site audit conducted for one the largest retail chains in the United States who iSustain provides the plastic recycling for.

 

The Problem: Inefficient Handling of Expired Food Waste at a Distribution Center

iSustain typically does these audits twice per year. The audits involve walking the entire floor and grounds of the distribution center in order to determine 1) if all materials that should be getting recycled are, and that best methods for capturing them are being utilized 2) if there are other potential materials that could be getting recycled but aren’t and determining the best methods for capturing them.

During this particular audit, iSustain noticed a specific area outside on the distribution center’s lot where a 40-yard open top roll off (essentially a huge dumpster) sat filled to the brim with waste. The waste consisted of spoiled meat and dairy, rotted flowers, expired goods and was leaking a watery sludge that was attracting rats, flies, and raccoons. The presence of these rats, flies, and raccoons presented a large health and safety issue that required the client to dedicate personnel to pressure wash and bleach a large area of the lot daily.

We also determined that the waste had been so haphazardly thrown into the roll offs that the space wasn’t being optimized or “cubed out” in an effective manner and this was leading to many more truck pulls to the landfill than necessary.

 

Offering Creative Solutions to Maximize Efficiencies and Logistics

We determined a solution that would not only solve the health and safety issues, but also allow the customer to save money on logistics, electricity costs, labor costs, and reduce wear and tear on their equipment.

Instead of using forklifts to drive the spoiled materials from the refrigerated warehouse halfway across the lot to be put into the roll off, iSustain could provide a 53-foot “tip-able” trailer to be kept at a specific bay door at the refrigerated warehouse. Once full, the entire trailer would be taken directly to the area landfill where the more-efficiently-packed waste materials would simply slide out of the tipped trailer.

 

• Savings on Logistics Costs: The 53-foot trailer allows for 4 to 5 times more net weight of waste material per trip than the roll off with basically the same cost of freight to the landfill.
• Savings on Electricity Costs: Since the distribution center is refrigerated, each time a bay door is opened for the forklift to exit and to drive to the roll off, a lot of expensive cold air escapes.  
• Savings on Propane and a Reduction in Emissions: By removing the forklift trips across the lot to the roll off, the amount of propane used and exhaust emitted into the atmosphere was greatly reduced.
• Increased Longevity of Equipment: By no longer using these forklifts to carry the waste across the lot to the 40-yard roll off they would save long-term from the decreased wear and tear and effectively extend the overall life of the forklift
• Savings on Labor costs: They would see a 90% reduction in the labor time involved in loading these waste materials by using the trailer instead of the roll off. Additionally they would see a 100% reduction in the labor involved in cleaning up the daily mess created by the roll off.

 

Results: A Happy Customer with an Improved Bottom Line

One year later, they are very happy with the overall savings and labor reduction this process has brought them and it’s because of their happiness that we are now implementing this process to all their other divisions.  

This case study is a prime example of how iSustain offers creative and customized solutions to maximize labor efficiency, reduce logistics costs and help companies improve their overall profitability.

 

Learn more about iSustain

Let’s talk about ways iSustain’s creativity can produce similar results for your company.

Please call us at (423) 668-0111, email [email protected] or visit our website.