5 Ways to Keep Your Facility Trash-Free—and Looking Great

Commercial Zone Blog

September 4, 2019

5 Ways to Keep Your Facility Trash-Free—and Looking Great

Each day, the average American generates more than 4 pounds of trash. And during peak travel times around seasonal holidays, chances are even more of that waste will make its way into your business’s trash cans.

Busy holiday foot traffic can be great for business, but dealing with the increased trash volume – while keeping your facility looking great – can be a challenge. Check out these 5 tips to manage the clutter as you prepare for upcoming holiday seasons, and the waste that will inevitably come along with it.

  1. Revise your waste emptying schedule
    You’ve likely already established a regular schedule for waste emptying – and identified staff responsible for the task. But prior to a busy holiday weekend, it’s critical to revise the schedule with more frequent emptying to account for additional trash volume. Communicate these changes to your staff and build in extra time in their schedules for it. You may also want to identify a back-up staff member for this task to ensure you’re covered.
  2. Invest in extra trash containers
    Consider placing extra, temporary trash receptacles in high-traffic areas to handle overflow. Commercial Zone has several waste containers and recycling containers that are clearly labeled for easy customer use and light weight enough to make removal – a breeze. These receptacles also come with a unique, patented Grab BagTM system that locks trash bags in place for a better appearance and improved lid security.
  3. Evaluate container placement and visibility
    If you haven’t thought much about trash container placement, take a few minutes to do so. Walk through the public-facing areas of your establishment, both inside and out. How visible are your trash receptacles? Is there any furniture or merchandise obscuring them? Are your recycling containers clearly labeled? Are there certain areas where customers tend to leave trash outside the receptacle? You might be surprised at what you notice.
  4. Conduct a waste audit
    It’s not an activity for the faint of heart. But conducting a waste audit can be one of the best ways to figure out what types of waste are occupying the most space in your trash containers – and help you reduce them. You’ll need to identify an appropriate time, place and staff resource to sort through your trash items, categorize them and report back on the most and least common trash types. For more information on how to conduct a waste audit, check out this How to Plan a Waste Audit article from Dumpsters.com.
  5.  Minimize excessive packaging
    Try to minimize any extra packaging (which could ultimately make its way into your trash container) when your customers make a purchase. One easy way to do this is to simply ask the customer if they want a bag for their purchase instead of simply providing one. You could also encourage the use of re-useable shopping bags by selling them and offering an incentive for using them.

Looking to enhance or evaluate your trash container options to create a lasting impression for your customers? Contact us today to find an option that’s right for you.

*Source: EPA