Here's the scenario, you walk into a casino, you put all your money on roulette red knowing that even if you lost everything you could recover by charging your customers a new fee. Would you do it? I'm thinking you wouldn't, right? We need our customers to be happy, or they won't shop or dine with us. 

Tell that to your garbage company.

Here is a brief history of the recycling market. About 20 years ago, countries like China realized a massive demand for recycled materials and the US became the world supplier of this newfound raw material. Demand grew, garbage companies started to see prices for recyclable materials skyrocket. They needed more!

As the demand for the material grew, the quality of the content fell. When China noticed they were no longer getting the quality of content expected, they refused entire ships of recycled material.

Supply is up, way up.

So here we are 20 years later, China has imposed a 0.5 contamination rate standard, and companies are having a hard time meeting the new requirement. Stockpiles of recycled material are taking up more space than ever and, for now, garbage companies are not allowed to send this material to a landfill.

Cost Of Poor Quality

Your garbage company is probably running out of space to stockpile recyclables. They also have budgeted costs to operate recycling facilities based on the price per ton they were getting from foreign countries. What they didn't budget for is Cost Of Poor Quality (COPQ). They have profit margin goals to maintain and they now need a new revenue source.

Introducing the all-new Recycling Offset Fee!

If you see this fee appear on your bill, it is because your garbage company expects you to help them maintain their profit margin. They entered into a contract with someone else and they can no longer afford it.

Bottom line, markets for recycled materials are at an all-time low. Your garbage company has a plan to tax you to help bail them out so their business remains profitable despite their poor decision making.

Not all garbage companies entered into these poor agreements so some companies may be in  better financial condition than others; expect your bill to reflect that. However, this is hard to determine since garbage companies do not advertise pricing so cost comparisons are very difficult.

Are you paying too much?

Add up all your monthly fees and run them through our Waste Auditor to find out if your prices are in line for your region. We aren't collecting your email address, making you register for something, or even making you download an app. Fill out the form, get your audit. it's that simple.