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The average person living in the United States generates almost 5 pounds of waste per day. Multiply that by a population of 360 million+ across 365 days a year and you can see why a waste disposal company would have no shortage of customers.
If you’re one of the special people that have unique waste disposal needs, needs that are perhaps commercial in nature or fall outside of what a typical trash pickup service might provide, you may be looking to hire a private waste management contractor to assist.
That process can be far from intuitive.
For those of you that are unsure how best to weigh types of waste management companies, keep reading. Below, our team breaks down key factors to consider that’ll help you contract with the perfect service.
1. Consider Who Your City Is Contracted With
Most cities have a waste management service they’re contracted with that does community clean-up. That service provider likely offers a suite of additional services (outside of run-of-the-mill curbside garbage disposal) that you can tap into.
To see if your best waste disposal company bet is to ask for an add-on service from your community’s contractor, note the company name on the side of your local garbage truck, and hop on their website. There, they may list out a variety of services and associated costs that could help you with your disposal needs.
No website? No problem. Pick up the phone and give the company a call.
2. Reputation
If your city garbage contractor isn’t going to cut it for your job, you’re going to have to dip into the pool of private contractors that are willing to service your area. The best way to create a shortlist of who to start engaging is to hop on the internet and start looking at online customer reviews.
Since garbage disposal companies aren’t a common service people hire, you may find that contractors on Yelp and Google don’t have a lot of feedback. That’s okay.
Try to find a handful of options though that have at least a 4-star average or better and one review in the last 6 months.
3. Availability
You could find the best waste disposal company on earth and not be able to use them because their schedules are filled with other clients. Rather than wasting your time trying to work around contractors like that, ask anyone you engage to be straightforward about what their availability looks like, particularly if your waste needs are recurring.
If you’re getting vibes that a contractor may be too busy to make you a priority, move onto another option.
4. Suite of Services
The more services your waste disposal company offers, the less you’ll have to look for other options as your garbage needs evolve. That’s why we advocate for people to prioritize waste companies that have robust and diverse disposal services, extending from standard garbage clean up, to the breaking down of waste, and beyond.
We’ll caution that advice by saying just because a contractor offers a lot of services doesn’t mean that they perform those services well. If possible, scan through a contractor’s online reviews to try and see if any former customers specifically laud a contractor you’re considering for the service you’re interested in.
If you can find that kind of specific social proof, you’ll have stumbled onto a great find.
5. Ability to Handle Hazardous Materials
Not all businesses need hazardous material management. Those that do though will want to be quick to head over to websites like http://www.hcienv.com/emergency-chemical-spill-response to find a specialist.
To handle hazardous chemicals, waste contractors need to have special licenses so be sure to inquire about qualifications before hiring a contractor to manage dangerous waste. If you hire an untrained company to deal with your issue and they hurt themselves or someone else, you may be partially liable.
6. Disposal Workflows
When your waste management company picks up your garbage, where does it go? Does it go straight to a landfill? Is your garbage sorted and recycled?
We implore you to give special consideration to contractors that care about their environmental footprint by responsibly disposing of garbage. By working with contractors that have green initiatives in place, you’ll create a more sustainable future for your community and the world around you.
7. Cost
At the end of the day, few questions are more important to businesses when hiring a garbage contractor than cost. Therein lies the value of comparing disposal fees.
Take in as many quotes as you can to see who is offering equal services and what prices they’re charging. In a perfect world, you’ll want to go with the best contractor who is offering the cheapest price.
Be wary of simply going with the cheapest contractors. Cheapest contractors rarely offer the best value and often create messes that end up costing businesses more money down the line.
Hire a Waste Disposal Company Slowly and Keep Them for a Long Time
We’re big advocates of hiring slow when it comes to finding a waste disposal company. Weigh your options, talk to prospective candidates, and think about which contractor you want to have a partnership with not only today but far into the future.
Our team wishes you the best as you work to sort through your waste disposal needs! Are you still scratching your head when it comes to assessing waste disposal experience or hiring contractors in general?
If you are, we welcome you to explore more of the helpful content we have available on our blog.
