If you are a facility manager, sustainability officer or executive overseeing multiple locations, managing waste across a portfolio of sites can quickly become expensive and inefficient if your waste management strategy is fragmented. The most impactful strategic move you can make is to unify your waste operations under a single expert partner that can provide a centralized waste management solution.

Whether you are managing waste for a chain of retail stores, a portfolio of commercial towers or corporate campuses, you must treat each site uniquely. Each site has its own contracts, its own waste hauler, and is covered under different local regulations.  A decentralized approach creates daily headaches, drains precious time and labor, and makes it difficult to collect the data you need to hit your ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance), waste reduction and cost-saving targets. By consolidating your waste management operations, you can access three powerful benefits: operational simplicity, verified cost savings, and accelerated compliance.

The 3 Benefits of Centralized Waste Management

1. Simplify Waste Operations, Reclaim Your Time

The logistical nightmare of coordinating waste removal services across multiple sites is challenging. It is a constant cycle of reconciling dozens of local hauler invoices, chasing missed pickups, and managing multiple vendor relationships. When you work with an expert waste partner to consolidate your waste management, your team is instantly freed from this daily grind, allowing them to focus on core property and business operations. A centrally managed approach can eliminate headaches with:

• Single-source billing: Instead of a stack of vendor invoices, receive one consolidated monthly bill that has been reviewed for accuracy to ensure the line items match service provided, and to make sure that any added fees are questioned and resolved. 
• Single point of contact for all hauler communication: All daily issues, from troubleshooting to service schedule changes, flow through a single point of contact. This means no more headaches. This level of support can dramatically impact productivity. When Great Forest centralized waste management for a nationwide retail bank, we freed up over 140 hours/month that the bank had previously spent on customer service, accounting, and hauler management. 
• Simplified RFPs: An experienced waste partner can handle the Request for Proposal (RFP) process for new hauling contracts, developing customized bid documents that precisely reflect the unique regulatory and operational requirements of each building.

2. Maximize Savings and Service: Leverage Expert Brokerage Relationships

Fragmented local contracts rarely guarantee you the best service or price. A key advantage of managing waste across a large portfolio is the ability to leverage a partner’s deep industry relationships and market expertise. A good waste broker acts on your behalf to ensure you secure favorable terms. This expertise pays off directly:

• Vetted Hauler Network: An experienced waste partner gives you access to a vetted network of reliable haulers that can provide quality, compliant service with accurate and transparent metrics reporting. Trusted haulers will go the extra mile for clients. 
• Lower Disposal Costs: With an established network, an experienced waste partner should be able to secure best-in-class service for the best rates across all your locations. When Great Forest led a comprehensive RFP bid process for 10 locations in a New York City property management company’s portfolio, the resulting new contracts were projected to save the client over $300k per year.
• Cost-Cutting, Right-sizing: An expert waste partner can optimize your waste reduction strategy across your portfolio and pin point inefficiencies by reviewing your waste data, equipment usage, and waste service frequency against industry benchmarks and similar sites inside and outside your portfolio. This process of right-sizing can cut costs drastically. Great Forest used this strategy to help a portfolio of 20+ residential properties identify 30 percent savings through right-sizing and other waste program improvements. 

3. Drive True Portfolio-wide ESG Progress

Managing waste across a portfolio allows for standardized data collection, centralized waste hauling service, and effective replication of best practices.

• Verified Data for Compliance and Efficiency: A strong waste partner collects data across a portfolio and provides it to the client in a consistent, easy-to-understand format.  This data is essential for accurate ESG reporting and enables rapid and easy reporting of waste metrics to stakeholders.
• Risk Reduction and Compliance: With centralized waste management services, your expert waste partner can help provide an overview of compliance across multiple jurisdictions and drastically reduce risk quickly. 

Ready to Consolidate Your Waste Operations Across Your Portfolio?

With our deep expertise in the waste hauling market, vetted network of nationwide haulers and ultra responsive customer service team, Great Forest is uniquely positioned to provide centralized waste management services for portfolios across the country.

Ready to consolidate your waste management, achieve compliance, and unlock maximum cost savings across your business portfolio for long-term ESG success? Start with a unified strategy. Contact Great Forest today. 

Photo by Abbe Sublett, Unsplash

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Case Study: Great Forest Helps National Retail Bank Reduce Waste and Costs