IT’S ALL ABOUT THE SOLUTIONS
When you invite Evergreen into your facility, it means you’re serious about handling your commercial waste issues – because they’re serious about what they do. That is, serious in a good way because they really know how to work out solutions and they have the tools and experience to do the best job for your particular needs. If they had their way, the landfills would be gone and everything that we currently throw in the trash would be recycled – the idealized “circular economy”. Of course the reality is different than the ideal, but they will work hard to get you as far along in the process as they can. Along the way, you’ll learn a lot, reduce the cost of handling your commercial waste and maybe even turn some of your recyclables into a revenue stream.
FIRST CONTACT
Evergreen is one of the few companies that would be happy to do a free audit of what your waste profile looks like. Broadly speaking they can identify the potentially recyclable items: certain plastics, metals, glass, paper and cardboard. Beyond that, most everything else would require a specialty recycler or would be treated as trash. There are several types of plastics and some may be recyclable locally or not depending on local facilities. So plastics can be a little tricky. Aluminum cans, bottles and paper are more straightforward to recycle and in some states there is a “bounty” on aluminum in the form of a small redemption fee per can that encourages recycling. At any rate, after an audit you will have a better idea of your options and can make an informed decision about how you might work with Evergreen to meet your objectives. Some clients want to reduce their waste bill, others want to do what they can to keep recyclables out of landfills and some want a combination of results.
MOVING FORWARD
For the sake of illustration, let’s say that you have a lot of incoming material in cardboard boxes. You also have a dumpster for all of these boxes which are broken down, and put in that dumpster. It fills up in about a week and you pay a local service to haul it away. Given that it takes three tons of trees to make one ton of cardboard, you can go a long way toward reducing the need to cut down trees if you can recycle cardboard.
The best, meaning highest value, cardboard is clean and dry, no grease, oil or liquid mixed in. If you are recycling you’ll want to keep your bin clean and dry since that will maximize the value you get. Another option to keep cardboard in the value stream is to have a cardboard shredder. This shredded product can be used as infill to help cushion product instead of using Styrofoam, or some other synthetic material. Yet another option is to install a baler that will compress your cardboard into bales making it easier to transport them and also reducing the number of times a year you need to haul it away. Evergreen has balers that they can rent as well as large flatbed and enclosed trucking capabilities. This gives you an idea of a few ways that Evergreen can make recycling easier.
EQUIPMENT AND SCHEDULING HELPS
Evergreen is happy to work on an on-going scheduled program or on an ad hoc basis as needed – they will come to you. Generally they will categorize these pick-ups as either plastic, paper, or waste.
You can call one day, they will pick-up either same day or next day depending on your contract. If you have a recyclable load you will get your payment within 45 days. They also have specialty recycle bins that you can use to help stage your loads so they are easier to deal with at pick-up. As mentioned earlier, in addition to the bins for plastic, they have baler’s available for paper/cardboard. They also have available flatbed trailers, tractor trailers and roll-off trucks. So they are well geared toward the logistics of hauling and they can come to you rather than you having to drive to the recycle center yourself.
FULL SERVICE AND TRANSPARENCY
When you contract with Evergreen not only do you have a knowledgeable and experienced partner, you get a company that is dedicated to service. Part of that service is to provide you with the information you need to ensure that your waste and recycling program is working as originally planned. This includes:
- Rebate schedules
- Price/volume/grade feedback
- Periodic re-audits
- Signed, certified truck receipts to validate volume and weight
- Monthly reports
- Pricing letter for changes to market conditions
- Prompt payment
The people at Evergreen want to make sure you are satisfied with your program and that you are getting your money’s worth when it comes to meeting your waste management objectives. Give them a call, talk to a real person and get started cleaning up your own little corner of the environment. You will be glad you did.
To learn more about Evergreen Recycling and their plastic recycling and waste management programs visit their website.
You can also reach out to them directly through this contact link.
or give them a call at (817) 293-4400
