Recently, a scrap paper recycling customer wanted to evaluate the actual cost of using commercial collection containers instead of just looking at the purchase price. Good idea. As always, there’s more to cost of ownership than purchase price.

One of the major paper recycling companies needed of 100 "Meese-style" carts to replace worn out units and beef up their inventory. They were looking for the best pricing, lead time, and guarantee as usual, but were also concerned about the durability of the base, casters, and top lip. They recognized that having the right carts can reduce cart re-orders as well as increase productivity and efficiency - a huge savings all around.

Sometimes you start down one path and end up on another.

Recently, we were working with a customer competing for a new contract. If theirs was the winning bid they’d need several hundred mobile carts to service the contract. As an aside, they asked if we offer big used collapsible boxes - 50" high – because they’re also converting from gaylords to reusable commercial containers.

A commercial recycling company in the southwest USA had a problem.

They were competing for a new contract and needed to duplicate exactly their wire cage style containers – dimensions, steel gauge, weight capacity, fork tubes, casters, and an unusual sliding drop door. And they had to stack interchangeably with their current containers – a tough design requirement.

Add up all of your locations’ spending on reusable plastic containers in the last year. Is it $50,000 or more? Then you’re a major account and should be treated like one.

You should be getting these 7 benefits:

Custom labels help promote your business and can pay for themselves by reducing missing or customer re-purposed containers.

Save Money by Switching to Reusable Containers

It is common knowledge that reusable containers can cut your costs by 50-75% vs. gaylords

...and the chart below shows exactly how reusables reduce container costs by 67%.

But what about the capital outlay for reusable containers

...how do you get the money to make the move?

There’s been a lot of talk about the circular economy recently, and our commercial and industrial recycling customers have been actively building it for years.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation has just published Trash to Treasure: Changing Waste Streams to Profit Streams, and they listed several interesting stats from the report:

Commercial Containers Buyer’s Guide [Part Four]

These simple steps will help you get the most from your commercial containers.

Commercial Containers Buyer’s Guide [Part Three]

It is a common practice for buyers to compare pricing for recycling containers which appear to be similar, however, they often differ substantially in durability and suitability for the intended task. As with most products, when evaluating containers, it’s good to know something about what’s beneath the surface.

Higher quality, longer lasting containers may cost more to buy, but will cost less to own and use.