Resource Efficiency in Organisations

Best Value for your Waste

Irish businesses have come a long way in 10 years and recycling is now the norm. Segregated bins are common-place and food waste segregation is becoming well established. Whether businesses are getting good value from their waste contractor is another issue and this is always the first thing to consider when reviewing waste management on site.

Tip!
Many businesses just pay their waste bills as they come in so it is worth examining your bills – what are you actually paying for?

Tip!
Do you have a skip lying around in your yard! Get rid of it and reduce your waste, click here to learn how.

Check your bills and know:

  • Are you paying by weight?
  • Are you paying by lift?
  • Are you being charged for your skip or bin rental?
  • Are your bins full when they collect them?
  • Do you get money back for recyclables?

For this you should consider what are the main types of waste generated by the business. There are numerous ways to collect and pay for your wastes and these are:

Waste typeDescriptionCost per tonne
Mixed wasteThis used be the most common way of managing wastes – throw it all in together. Now, by law and due to costs, this has become a less popular option. If you have good segregation in your business this should be the smallest fraction.€200
Individual recyclable streamsCardboard and paper have been collected separately for many years, as has plastic film. Some waste contractors are now offering very good rebates on individual recyclable waste streams. So, if you have large volumes of these and can collect them separately it may be worth money to you. However, this requires that these individual waste streams are collected separately, are compacted (baled) and clean. All this segregation requires on-site resources and management so the cost effectiveness needs to be considered with this in mind. The following values are what waste contractors may make on individual streams on the open market, as reported in the Irish Times PET Bottles - €350
HDPE - €400
Plastic Film €150 - €300
Cardboard - €125
Al cans & packaging - €850
Steel - €150
Mixed paper - €90
Mixed recyclablesAttempts by businesses to install sophisticated recycling systems are often unsuccessful. At the same time, home recycling, where all recyclables are collected together as a mixed stream, has become well established. It may be more appropriate therefore for businesses to implement home-style segregation in the work place. This usually entails 3 main waste streams (mixed, recyclables and organics) and strategically placed, and well labeled bins (best practice involves bin stations rather than numerous individual bins). Many waste contractors charge by volume for mixed dry recyclables, due to the low density of this waste businesses should attempt to renegotiate to a pay-by-weight service or even seek a rebate. €5 - €15 per 1100L wheelie bin
Some astute businesses are even receiving a rebate for this stream
OrganicsNow, by law, all businesses that generate food waste must collect this waste separately. While you may not currently have a separate collection service this is on the way so you should have a system in place already. Some waste contractors charge by lift and others by weight for organics. The economics of these options should be investigated on an individual basis. €80 - €150