Why are waste costs rising?

The cost of living crisis continues to impact businesses, and this is no different for businesses working in the waste sector. It’s becoming more and more expensive to run recycling facilities so companies will be increasing their costs to make up for this.

Fuel costs are a huge contributing factor to the increase in waste costs. Before April 2022, red diesel could be used to power vehicles and machinery. However, operators now need to use diesel taxed at the standard fuel duty rate to power their vehicles and machinery. This has driven the costs of fuel up dramatically.

Your suppliers need fuel to power their vehicles and the sorting facilities that handle your waste. If fuel prices continue to stay higher than average, then this is likely to be passed on to you through an increase in costs.

At Flame UK, our customers come first. We always strive to offer our customers the best possible value without compromising on the quality of the service they receive. We believe that it’s best to be transparent with our customer base. While we have been doing the best to shield our customers from any price increases, they will likely be a necessary action in the future. We’ll only do this if it’s absolutely necessary and we’ll always keep you informed of any changes we may need to make.

Our suppliers will usually issue a price increase on waste disposal and transport rates once a year. This will be done on 1^st April in line with any rise in related Government taxes. While we try to keep our prices as low as possible, if prices continue to rise, we may be forced to implement an increase. We’ll try to absorb the financial pressures the industry faces as much as possible to deliver the lowest cost services in the industry and maintain the high level of service that we’re proud to provide.

While costs may rise, there are things your business can do to keep your waste management costs as low as possible.

Using a compactor is a great way to ensure that your business’ waste disposal costs are staying as low as they can be. These machines work by applying pressure to the waste to compress the material. This helps to maximise your waste storage capacity, which helps you to go longer between collections. The less collections you need, the lower your waste management costs will be. When paired with our SmartTrash technology, this equipment can dramatically cut your waste costs.

Our SmartTrash technology works to optimise your waste management even more, saving your business money. The technology will let you know when your compactor has reached capacity and can even alert your waste collector, so they know you’re ready for a collection. Using SmartTrash will mean that your compactor will only be emptied when you absolutely need a collection. By avoiding any unnecessary collections, you’ll be able to save money on your business’ waste costs.

While waste costs are rising, there are things you can be doing to offset these increases. Does your business use pallets? They’re a great way to bring in a bit of extra income for your business. Used pallets can have a rebate value depending on their size, quality, and availability. Flame UK can help you recycle your used pallets to help your business generate extra revenue. We were able to help one of our customers to recycle their polystyrene waste to make new chairs and car seats. This brought their waste costs down by around 35%.