The Waste Management Business Model

Why the Waste Management Business Model is the Most Important Cause of the Waste Problems All Around the World and How to Change it

Yes you read that right.

I wrote just that.

The business model followed by waste companies is the main cause of the waste problem.

Not in Europe.

Not in the Americas.

Not in Asia.

Not in Africa.

But all over the world.

Yes, that's right.

Everywhere the waste problem originates from the wrong business model followed by waste management companies.

I know you're wondering, But how are we who manage waste the cause of the problem?

Yes my friend.

And believe me when I say that you as the owner or waste manager are partly responsible for the problem.

In fact, if your company is involved in waste collection, waste management, waste recycling, or from waste to energy, part of the responsibility is yours as well.

Even if no one has ever told you.

That's why I can't back down from showing you how things really are.?

Yes, because in order to solve a problem, such as waste, the first action to take is to understand where the problem originates.

Now I know that you are there saying "yes, but it's not my fault if Mark abandons the garbage on the street or if he abandons it in the woods. It's him being an animal."

Unfortunately for you it is your responsibility.

But I'll tell you more: it originates from your business model.

From the one you created by following what the consultants told you because "you do a community service" or from the one you inherited because "we've always done it this way with the collection process and something that gets lost is bound to be there".

Well, believe me that's bullshit.

Yes bullshit.

But I'll take a step back.

Yes because the most common business models in the world of waste are:

- company that collects and transports the waste;

- company that treats waste by separating it;

- company that produces energy from waste;

- company that sells the waste;

- company that does the above things together.

These are the 5 most popular models.

Whether your company was opened today or is a company opened 40 years ago, by and large it belongs to one of these models or is a mix of 2-3 of these business models.

And let me tell you, so far, it seems to have worked very well.

Yes I say “it seems” because it has fed you, your family members, your employees and everyone around you.

No doubt it has contributed to waste management in your city, region and/or state, but are you sure it has contributed to solving the problem?

Let me answer: NO.

I know I'm going to infuriate you.

In fact, the point is that over the last 30 years although the amount of waste produced per person has decreased, especially between 2000 and 2015, yet the number of people producing waste has increased.

Yes because the population has increased and with it the waste generation has increased (source OECD.org).?

But this is not enough.

In fact what has increased is also the consumption of objects.

I know that doesn't mean anything to you.

But think for a moment what happened when in the 90s or even in the late 80s the television broke down.

The first thing you did, or your father did, was to call the technician to get it fixed. Same with the toaster or the washing machine or any other item. Shoes included.

What happens today?

When one of these items you don't call the technician, you open the internet and immediately buy another one.

So, although the amount of solid urban waste has been partly reduced, per person but not per city, the type of waste has increased.

I would say that consequently the selective capacity of waste in your business should have increased, but this has not happened.

On the contrary.

In most cases, and believe me that traveling in many countries around the world I have seen all kinds of waste, companies like yours have remained stuck to the collection of municipal solid waste by starting simple differentiation processes: organic, inorganic, glass, plastic, paper, aluminum.

Waste that only partially entered recycling circuits.

Yes, because the reappearance of systems of energy production from waste have prevailed in many countries and, given the growing need for energy, the possibility of generating energy from residues has meant that many secondary raw materials were lost to feed these big burners.

And yes instead of going into recycling or regeneration they were used as fuel.

While on the one hand they were segregated on the other hand they were lumped together because "because of the analysis in the plant, regeneration or re-entry into the regeneration cycle was not possible."

That's what happened.

But I don't want to fuel any controversy in that sense.

What I do want to point out is that because of this approach the waste problem has taken on a greater dimension.

Yes, because while it was thought that incineration was the way out, in addition to all the other clumsy attempts such as using waste as the basis for the construction of some artificial islands, the world began to have increasing consumption of some particular raw materials.

You only have to think about the technological leap made between 2000 and 2015.

Just to give you an idea it went from having 1 PC for every 7 inhabitants in 2000 to 1 for every 2 inhabitants in 2015.

And if you take into account the rapid technological evolution, you immediately understand how much, especially in some cases, the obsolete PC became a waste to be taken and eliminated.

Not to mention all the other objects.

Just think of old TVs, old monitors, old air conditioners and so on.

Waste that for a long time had no real management.

Yes, because according to many of your colleagues, they were difficult to manage or, in many other cases, less profitable than urban waste.

So here they were abandoned.

Yes, because that's what happened.

And do you know why it happened?

Simply because the business model adopted by so many companies like yours is a business model focused on collecting waste and entrusting its actual management to another company.

A company that treats a part of it in its plant by reselling another part or that takes and sends everything towards incineration.

As always happens, the greater the number of steps in the process, the greater the chance that something will go wrong.

And this is the case.

Yes, because a good part of the waste problem originates from this: from the lack of interest in some types of waste. Waste that has accumulated in homes, warehouses, buildings and then suddenly appeared on the streets, in the fields, and unfortunately in the oceans. Feeding criminal organizations that have speculated.

This is why the business model of waste companies is among the causes of the waste problem.

Yet, I did not tell you all this and then not give you a solution.

In fact if until yesterday your company was the cause of the problem, from tomorrow it may not be anymore.

Simply by starting to consider the waste you collect as materials and putting it on the market as secondary raw materials.

I know this sounds like something complex and articulated and in part it is.

Yes, because you will have to develop new skills and have new people within your company.

Your waste manager will not only have to know which waste code to assign to the waste collected, but will also have to know the market value of the secondary raw materials that can be obtained from that waste, in order to then build an offer and promote them on the market.

And this is where the need to learn how to do marketing comes in.

And let me tell you, this is the evolution of the waste manager's role.

Yes, because in the world there are so many precious wastes that with appropriate recycling and regeneration processes we would avoid starting new production cycles to produce or search for the same raw materials.

I would add that given the recent shortages we have had, this is becoming the preferred way to avoid them.

This means only one thing: you are sitting on a goldfield.

That's why it's time to change your approach and abandon the old business model where you were simply a waste collector and move to the new business model where your waste collection center will also be the center of resale of secondary raw materials, important for the economy of your country, your region, your state.

But most importantly, important for the entire planet.

And only in this way will you contribute to saving the world.

Be the change and Happy New Year!

Sam