The dry mixed recycling bin that is not
A driver on the recycling round lifts the lid on an office block's dry mixed recycling bin and finds food waste, a bag of general rubbish and a broken chair. He has two choices. Empty it and risk contaminating the load, or leave it and expect a phone call from the customer about a missed collection.
Either way, the office will hear about it later. If he empties it, the load may be downgraded or rejected at the facility, and your firm pays for it. If he leaves it, the customer rings to say you missed their recycling, and without a record, the office often sends a vehicle back.
Why contamination keeps repeating
Customers rarely know their bin was contaminated. Their staff put the wrong things in it, nobody tells them, and the same thing happens next week. The feedback loop that would change behaviour does not exist.
- Drivers make a judgement at the bin, but it is not recorded anywhere.
- Customers are not told when a bin is left or taken as general waste.
- Downgraded or rejected loads are charged to you, but cannot be traced to a customer.
- Contamination charges, where your terms allow them, are raised rarely and disputed often.
- Tags or stickers left on bins are ignored or peeled off by the customer's cleaners.
The cost that lands on you
When a contaminated load reaches a recycling facility, the cost of dealing with it usually comes back to the collector. Without a record of which bins were contaminated, you absorb it rather than passing it to the customers responsible.
There is also an operational cost. Contaminated bins left behind lead to calls, return visits and missed-collection disputes. And customers who genuinely want to recycle well never get the information that would help them do it.
How we record contamination and close the loop
What we build captures the driver's call at the bin and turns it into a notice, a history and, where your terms say so, a charge.
- The driver taps contaminated at the stop, picks what was found from a short list, takes a photo and chooses what was done: left, taken as general waste, or taken as recycling.
- The customer receives an automatic text or email the same day with the photo and a short explanation of what can go in that bin, written by you.
- Each case is logged against the customer and container, and repeat cases are counted.
- Charges, if your terms include them, are proposed after a number of cases you set, and go to the office for approval with the photos.
- Rejected or downgraded loads reported by the facility can be linked back to the rounds and bins recorded as contaminated that day.
- A monthly report lists the customers with most contamination, so account managers can offer signage, training material or a different container arrangement.
| Case count | What happens |
|---|---|
| First | Notice to customer with photo |
| Repeat within your period | Second notice, account owner informed |
| Beyond your threshold | Proposed charge for office approval |
| Persistent | Account review, service change offered |
What counts as contamination and what you charge are decided by you and your processing arrangements. We build to those rules.
A recycling round after the change
The driver finds the office block's bin contaminated again. Two taps and a photo. By lunchtime the office manager at the block has an email with the photo and a list of what goes in the blue bin. It is the second time this month, so the account owner gets a notification too and rings to suggest labels for the internal bins.
When the customer rings about the bin being left, the office pulls up the record and the photo. There is no return lift. The conversation is about fixing the cause rather than arguing about the collection.
Does contamination cost you more than you can show?
- Drivers decide at the bin but nothing is recorded.
- Customers are not told their recycling was contaminated.
- Downgraded or rejected loads are absorbed without being traced to customers.
- Contamination charges are rare because there is no evidence.
- The same customers contaminate every week.