Commercial waste is any rubbish that a business produces. It’s sometimes referred to as trade waste or business waste. This is a catch-all term that covers any trash materials a company creates such as solid waste, glass, food, paper, cardboard, and many more. It differs from residential waste, which is garbage from homes.

It’s not just private businesses such as offices, grocery stores, manufacturers, hotels, and restaurants that produce commercial waste. All the trash generated by charities, schools, hospitals, churches, and not-for-profit organizations also classify as commercial waste. Commercial waste also includes industrial and manufacturing waste.

For domestic waste, you might just drag out your trash can to be emptied once a week. With commercial waste companies use a private waste management firm to collect their garbage. State and local laws may apply to how commercial waste should be managed depending on where your business is based in the US.

How much waste management costs depends on lots of factors. The main one is the amount of garbage your business generates – the more you produce, the higher the costs. Paying for waste management is an unavoidable expense for any business, so should be included in your budget.

Other factors that affect how much waste management costs include the types of waste streams you generate, the sizes and number of dumpsters you use, and how often you want them collected. Your location may also impact the price.

The easiest way to find out how much waste management is for your business is to get a free no-obligation quote tailored to your needs – call 888 584 2118 or contact us online.

There are various processes for waste management to work. This is generally how waste management works for most businesses:

• Planning – a good waste management strategy covers where garbage is stored in the business, who collects it, when it’s removed, and how it’s disposed of. Planning should also consider the costs and budget.
• Storage – all trash is stored in dumpsters, bins, or bags on site. Waste streams should be separated by materials and stored in appropriate places to reduce the risk of contamination and exposure to offensive or potentially harmful waste types.
• Collection – commercial waste is removed by professionals. It’s important you have an efficient schedule that prevents any dumpsters from overflowing but is also cost-effective, so you don’t pay for half-full bin removals.
• Transportation – the waste will be transported safely to a nearby waste management facility. Where it goes will depend on your location and the types of waste materials.
• Disposal or recycling/recovery – depending on the materials the waste will be checked, sorted, and disposed of properly. This includes recycling for the likes of glass, paper, and cardboard, while medical waste may be incinerated, or waste food could be composted or go for anaerobic digestion.

Every business should take action to improve their waste management where possible. There are always things you can do better whether you’re just starting or want to act sustainably and save money as an existing company. These are a few ways to improve waste management within your organization:

• Conduct a waste audit – review the types and volumes of trash you generate to identify areas where you should aim to reduce waste or recycle more.
• Follow the waste hierarchy – reduce, reuse, repair, recycle, recover, and dispose of trash in that order. The waste hierarchy aims to minimize trash and especially the amount going to landfill.
• Separate materials – ensure you have dumpsters, bins, and bags to separate materials so that as much as possible is reused and recovered.
• Work with suppliers – partner with firms that also want to reduce waste, such as companies that use minimal packaging or recyclable materials.
• Educate staff – train employees about the importance of safe waste management, recycling, and reducing trash to get them onside and make a positive difference.

The 5 Rs of waste management is a hierarchy to follow when dealing with trash. These are five steps any business should action when managing garbage to use products and materials to their full potential before they become waste. This reduces waste production and trash going to landfill while improving efforts to recycle.

It grew out of the three Rs of recycling – reduce, reuse, and recycle – with the additions of refuse and repurpose. There are a few variations of the 5 Rs but they all follow the same concept and aim of minimizing waste, recovering and using materials, and protecting the environment.

Refusing, reducing, reusing, repurposing, and recycling waste provides a sustainable grounding for your company. It avoids items being chucked out with solid waste when they could be recycled or reused and introduces a greater focus on minimizing waste production and recycling within your organization.

These are the 5 Rs of waste management and recycling:

The first step of the 5 Rs is refuse. This is a key action to eliminate waste at the source where possible by avoiding or preventing it. Refuse the use of products, items, or materials within your business that create waste. It’s achievable by switching to sustainable alternatives or changing suppliers.

Examples of refusing to eliminate waste include avoiding single-use plastics (such as disposable cutlery), not buying products in non-recyclable packaging, and preventing waste by not stocking plastic carrier bags. Work with vendors to ensure products create minimal or zero waste from their packaging and designs.

Completely eliminating waste isn’t always realistic, so the next stage is to reduce the amount you create. This helps protect the environment but may also save your business money. Strong inventory planning and management help reduce waste by avoiding over-ordering items that get thrown out rather than used.

For restaurants and hotels, it’s vital to cut back on food waste. Good inventory management also reduces waste from stores to minimize the risk of expired stock. Other common actions to reduce waste include buying products in minimal and recyclable packaging, switching to digital rather than physical paper records, and using reusable water bottles and cups.

If you can’t reuse items for their intended function, then repurposing them is the next best option. Repurposing or upcycling preserves more use and life out of materials and products to prolong their life and prevent waste. Lots of things can be reused for storage solutions in workplaces and homes.

Repurpose cardboard boxes for storing dry foods in the kitchen. Glass jars make great pencil holders or makeshift vases for flowers. Old wooden pallets can be upscaled into furniture while car tires make great planters with a bit of work. T-shirts and clothes can be repurposed as cleaning rags and cloths.

The final stage of the 5 Rs is to recycle. Following the four steps above should mean as little as possible is left to recycle. This is ideal as, while recycling is sustainable and much better for the environment than landfilling or incineration, it still requires lots of energy.

Recycling ensures the reuse of materials. To recycle effectively you should have separate dumpsters, bins, and containers to segregate waste materials your business produces. These can include collections of cardboard, paper, glass, plastic, and electronic waste. Single stream recycling is also an option to commingle some materials.

Apply the 5 Rs of waste management within your organization to reduce your organization’s environmental impact, repurpose trash, and save money.

The Super Bowl produces up to 160,000 pounds of trash, which is double the amount of an average NFL game. That’s just from inside and around the stadium – viewers watching at home, in bars, and at parties create even more waste during their celebrations (and commiserations for fans of the defeated team).

Food, drink, and all the packaging that comes with it are the main sources of garbage associated with the Super Bowl. For example, one in seven Americans order takeout on Super Sunday (and about 60% of these are pizzas). Leftovers, greasy pizza boxes, and dips can all end up in the trash.

Touch down with some more Super Bowl trash facts and statistics:

• Around 2,000 tons of food waste is generated at Super Bowl parties
• At Super Bowl LVII in 2023, an impressive 92.6% of trash was diverted away from landfills
• The other 10% or so was sent to a waste-to-energy incineration plant where it was burned to create electricity
• In 2024 at Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas, around 12,000 pounds of food waste was collected and donated to local livestock farms and used to feed the animals
• Americans get through loads of food and drink on Super Sunday that create waste:
  • 1.25 billion chicken wings – all those bones get thrown away
  • 325 million gallons of beer – equivalent to 50 million cases and millions of aluminum cans
  • 19 million pounds of chips – 11 million potato chips and 8 million tortilla chips
  • 8 million pounds of guacamole – millions of plastic tubs got to trash
  • 4 million pounds of popcorn – the bags and packaging become garbage

Super Bowl parties generate around 2,000 tons of food waste every year, as well as all the packaging and other garbage thrown away after the celebrations. A bit of planning and easy actions can help reduce your environmental impact and ensure everyone enjoys the Super Bowl sustainably if you’re having friends and family round.

Use these tips to host a low-waste Super Bowl party this year:

• Plan ahead – base your catering on the number of people invited to your Super Bowl party to reduce the amount of potential food waste. Check what food and drink guests are bringing to avoid overordering and ending up with loads of leftovers. It also helps ensure you’ve got enough cups, glasses, plates, and cutlery so you don’t have to buy any single-use plastic items.
• Cook your own food – homemade cooking significantly reduces food packaging waste and allows good portion control. Fire up the BBQ or get the pizza oven going. Any leftovers can be reused later in the week or added to a compost pile. Plus, cooking at home reduces carbon emissions compared to ordering takeout.
• Eco-friendly decorations – don’t buy the cheap plastic Super Bowl tat from stores that get used once and then thrown in the trash. Use any football gear like helmets, jerseys, and footballs you’ve already got and place them around your home to boost the atmosphere.
• Avoid single-use items – use your own cutlery, plates, cups, tablecloths, bowls, and other items rather than forking out for single-use plastic ones that are hard to recycle.
• Encourage car shares – help arrange any car pools depending on who’s coming to your party. This reduces emissions and also makes parking easier if space is limited.
• Watch together – it may be tempting to have a TV for the kids in one room, one in the kitchen, and another in the lounge but this triples your electricity consumption. Watch together on one screen for efficiency and fun!

Waste segregation is simply the process of sorting trash materials into different categories. This involves identifying, classifying, and dividing trash types to ensure it’s disposed of properly. It’s putting garbage into different bins, containers, or dumpsters based on their type, composition, and suitable disposal or treatment method.

Sorting waste at the source or point of production is simple and effective in reducing contamination and keeping materials apart. For example, having various bins for food waste, glass recycling, and solid waste could help a restaurant segregate these materials and keep any food and glass away from landfills.

Common waste types to segregate are:

• Food waste
• E-waste
• Glass recycling
• Paper and cardboard
• Single stream recycling
• Solid waste

At Business Waste, we can provide a wide range of dumpsters and bins to ensure proper waste segregation within your organization. These include everything from smaller 2 yard dumpsters to compactors and large roll offs. Regular collections are available on daily, weekly, or fortnightly frequencies.

All commercial trash is disposed of away from landfills in line with relevant regulations. This ensures your garbage is recycled and disposed of responsibly. Get a free quote for waste segregation bins and commercial trash collections – call 888 584 2118 or contact us online.

A waste management audit (also known as a waste stream audit) is an analysis of all the items that enter your waste streams. It involves reviewing everything that goes into your dumpsters and bins before they’re collected. Professional waste management audits identify the types and quantities of trash your business produces and their disposal method.

Any organization that wants to improve its recycling, sustainability, and waste management practices starts with a waste stream audit. This provides a real-time assessment of garbage generation to identify areas where you can work to reduce waste, recycle more, and lower your waste management costs.

The standard waste management audit provides an overview of all the trash your organization produces. There are also specific audits that focus on certain waste streams, such as:

• Food waste audit – a record of all the kinds of food thrown out, where it came from, and why it’s being chucked out. This aims to determine the reasons for food waste and identify ways to reduce it.
• Recycling audit – an assessment of the current recycling streams and processes that also helps reduce the volume of solid waste. It can focus on specific recycling streams to explore ways to increase recycling rates.
• Hazardous waste audit – a review of the different types of hazardous materials disposed of by a business. It involves evaluating the storage to ensure it’s safe and that all hazardous waste is separated from other streams.

You can use professionals to conduct a waste audit or carry one out for your business yourself. Good planning, wearing safe protective gear, and following a clear process helps make any waste management audit a success. The time, effort, and requirements may vary depending on the size and type of company you run.

Follow these steps to conduct a waste audit:

• Designate a team – assign a team to conduct the waste audit. This could be any health and safety experts, senior leadership, or those in environmental roles but they must be familiar with the business and its operations. Supply everyone with appropriate PPE including gloves and facemasks.
• Set a time and day(s) – decide a day and time to carry out the audit. Ideally, this should be outside of a busy or quiet period to give an idea of an average day. Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday are common days for conducting waste audits.
• Review the site – walk around your site (depending on its size) and assess the dumpsters, bins, and any other trash containers in place. This provides a good overview of your facility and where garbage is stored, which is useful to plan an efficient audit.
• Weigh the waste – sort through the different waste streams your organization produces and weigh them. This gives a good idea of the volume of trash your company produces. If you take garbage from an average day, you can multiply it to work out a rough estimate of your weekly, monthly, or annual trash production.
• Sort through trash – dive deeper into the garbage in your dumpsters and bins. Identify any items thrown into the wrong container (such as glass in a solid waste dumpster). This highlights contamination and an area to improve recycling.
• Analyze audit results – review the results to work out how much trash your business creates, and which waste streams are most common. Use this information to identify areas where you should aim to reduce waste or where you need extra recycling solutions (if there’s lots of paper in a solid waste dumpster then maybe add a paper recycling dumpster to your collections).
• Make improvements – implement any changes such as changing the sizes of the dumpsters or bins you use or adding more into your collection schedule. Keep an eye on your recycling rates and trash production and conduct another audit in the near future to track your progress.

You can conduct a waste audit yourself but if you want a job done right it’s sometimes best to use a professional waste auditor. Many businesses provide expert waste audit services. These deliver great insight into the current state of your waste management processes from the types, volumes, and storage to disposal.

At Business Waste, we offer waste audit services for organizations of any size and industry. One of our experts can assess the types of trash you produce and advise on the best kinds and sizes of dumpsters you need and collection frequencies. Saving your business money and protecting the environment are at the heart of it.

Get a free no-obligation quote for a professional waste audit today – call 888 584 2118 or contact us online.

Some businesses manage their own waste removal and disposal to try and reduce the costs involved. However, this can be expensive, time-consuming, and risky. You need to purchase dumpsters, containers, and trucks as well as have the appropriate licenses in place. Any mistakes could result in large fines and further penalties.

Paying professionals to manage your commercial garbage is worth it. Waste management companies have all the relevant dumpsters, vehicles, fully licensed professionals, knowledge, and experience to manage your commercial waste properly. Operating on a large scale enables them to charge lower fees for a cost-effective solution compared to doing it yourself.

As a leading waste broker, we work with local suppliers in your area to provide some of the best possible waste collection prices. Let us know the types and volume of trash your business produces, and we’ll work to offer a bespoke and cost-effective option.

Save money with affordable dumpster rental and a collection schedule that meets your needs. There’s no paying for half-empty container removals or experiencing overflowing bins. Get a free no-obligation quote for commercial waste collection today – call 888 584 2118 or contact us online.

For a sense of how much trash businesses and homes create these world waste statistics give a good insight. There’s a strong correlation between high-income countries producing higher volumes of trash than low-income and developing nations. However, the way waste is managed also varies, which affects recycling rates and disposal methods.

Get to grips with these global waste statistics:

• The average amount of waste generated per person per day in the world is 1.6 pounds (0.74kg) – but it varies greatly from 0.24 pounds (11kg) to 10 pounds (4.54kg)
• By 2050 it’s expected that global waste generation will be 3.4 billion tons per year
• Global solid waste treatment and disposal is responsible for 5% of global emissions – 6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) greenhouse gases
• Garbage from about four billion people goes to unregulated or illegal dumpsites that hold more than 40% of global waste
• The USA generates around 12% of global waste despite having only 4% of the world’s population
• Roughly one-third of food goes to waste that’s produced globally (about 1.3 billion tons every year)
• Sadly, more than 14 billion pounds of garbage ends up in the world’s oceans every year
• About 50 million tons of e-waste is produced annually

What happens to our trash and where it ends up depends on the material and where you are in the world. Sadly, lots of waste still goes to landfill sites, which have a negative environmental impact. These waste disposal facts provide an idea of where trash from homes and businesses goes.

Learn what happens to garbage in the US and around the world with these waste disposal facts and statistics:

• Landfilling is the most popular method of waste disposal – it accounts for more than 60% of the total waste management market
• There are more than 3,000 active landfill sites in the USA – and more than 10,000 closed municipal landfills
• It’s estimated that 80% of trash buried in landfills are recyclable
• In 2018 in the USA around 94 million tons of MSW were recycled and composted (32.1% of the total amount)
• More than 146 million tons of MSW (50%) went to landfills
• 35 million tons of MSW (11.8%) were combusted with energy recovery 
• 7 million tons of food waste (6% of MSW) were disposed of as animal feed, via biochemical processing, anaerobic digestion, and other methods

A trash broker (also known as a waste broker) helps businesses find the most cost-effective and efficient options to manage commercial garbage. They have a network of waste connections to compare options and source the best solution. Trash brokers deal directly with waste haulers, dumpster rental, and garbage collection companies so you don’t have to.

Their industry connections and expert knowledge means they can offer solutions for efficient commercial waste management. Access to a wide network of specialist waste haulers, such as those that collect and dispose of hazardous waste, enables brokers to find and provide specialist services you may otherwise struggle to source.

The role of a trash broker can be tailored to your needs. They can consult and provide waste audits to advise on the best options for your unique circumstances, ensure compliance with relevant regulations, and arrange timely delivery and pickup of your company’s trash. Waste brokers provide the sole point of contact too.

Business Waste is a leading trash broker with a wide network of verified suppliers in the USA. We can help companies of any size and industry organize smooth and affordable commercial waste management with customized solutions and services. See how much you could save with a free no-obligation quote.

One of our friendly experts can listen to and discuss your needs and outline the next best steps. Services include everything from dumpster rental to regular waste collection and recycling (with all waste kept away from landfills). Get in touch with us today – call 888 584 2118 or contact us online for more information.