Ray Hatch, CEO and President Quest Resource Management Group
Important points:
- Assess the efficiency of waste services. Tailor waste management contracts to local needs and seasonal changes to ensure cost-effectiveness and reduce unnecessary services.
- Unlock value from overlooked waste streams. Recycle or recover and reuse materials such as plastics, cooking oil, and organic waste to minimize landfill waste and reduce disposal costs.
- Engage your team to identify inefficiencies. Involve management in assessing hidden operational inefficiencies, optimizing waste collection schedules and equipment usage, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
In the dynamic landscape of food distribution, sustainability is transforming from just a trend to a significant opportunity for growth and innovation. With environmentally conscious consumers in the driver’s seat and regulations evolving to promote greener practices, there’s a great opportunity to strengthen your business through thoughtful reflection.
Let’s look at three key areas where food distribution and packaging operations can conduct a simple self-assessment. By identifying opportunities for improvement in current practices, you can significantly improve your waste sustainability efforts without making large financial investments.
1. Evaluate waste services for cost efficiency and customization
First and foremost, let’s talk about an important aspect of running a business: service levels. Take a closer look at your current contract and evaluate what services you’re actually receiving. Based on past history, a closer inspection may reveal that your company is paying more than 10% for unnecessary and wasteful services.
In the field of food distribution, a one-size-fits-all approach can lead to missed opportunities that increase inefficiency and deplete resources. Think about it. Each region has its own challenges.
- For example, coastal areas often have high concentrations of tourists, increasing the use of single-use plastics such as containers, straws, and bags.
- On the other hand, agricultural areas may suffer from food spoilage, waste from overproduction, and/or problems getting fresh produce to market.
To streamline waste management, it is essential to consider regional differences, facility size, and types of waste generated. Seasonal changes also play a role. Take for example restaurants and hotels near the coast. Business typically spikes during the summer months. But are they adjusting their service to accommodate this increase, or is the pickup schedule the same year-round? Keeping an eye on leftover food This is very important because the rate at which food spoils can actually change depending on the season, which can affect how quickly it needs to be recycled.
While a comprehensive service plan may save planning time, it may not be cost-effective or practical. Rather than spending extra money on waste disposal fees or dealing with inefficiencies, it’s wise to develop strategies that address the specific needs of each region. This approach allows companies to improve service efficiency, reduce waste, and work towards more sustainable operations, potentially positioning them as innovative leaders in their industry.
Cost efficiency checklist:
- Check your contract: Are you paying for unused services?
- We understand local challenges and customize our services.
- Adjust for seasonality: Are your collection schedules optimized for fluctuating waste volumes? Customize your service to facility size and waste type.
2. Unlock commercial value from overlooked waste streams
For food distributors, waste management is critical to sustainability and profitability. It’s amazing how often companies overlook waste streams that could actually add value. Waste such as plastics, used cooking oil, cardboard, and organic waste is often an underutilized asset. Instead of defaulting to landfill, food companies can reap cost savings and environmental benefits through innovative waste recycling.
Examining waste service practices is critical to environmental sustainability. Collecting all food waste together can contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. 3.66 tons — That’s meIt is important to realize that waste separation and classification can lead to more effective results. For example, non-meat food waste alone generates approximately 0.76 tons of greenhouse gases.
Instead of sending all waste directly to landfills, food distribution and packaging companies can take a nuanced approach to sustainability.
- Implement the most efficient collection system using both mixed and segregated waste processes. For example, edible oil is a distinct single-stream collection process, whereas other streams such as food and packaging may be combined into a single stream. This approach increases efficiency at the source and allows for easier disposal while maintaining operations.
- Partner with facilities that specialize in recycling or chemical recovery to repurpose materials into reusable products, energy, or compost. By working with recycling facilities and chemical recovery services, even mixed waste can be separated and recycled into reusable products and energy.
These two strategies not only minimize the burden on landfills, but also help avoid the high disposal costs associated with hazardous waste. Additionally, economic benefits can be derived by separating packaging materials from virgin raw materials, whether at the source or in back-end processes. By identifying and effectively leveraging these resources, companies can drive sustainability and increase profitability while improving operational efficiency.
Checklist to capture value:
Analyze all waste streams to find overlooked opportunities.
- Establish a system to effectively classify waste and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- Partner with recycling and recovery services for back-end processing.
- Calculate savings from landfill diversion and material reuse.
3. Engage your team to identify operational inefficiencies.
Finally, it is essential to understand the dynamics within a company’s operations. Achieving cost-effectiveness and sustainability depends on the ability to effectively evaluate internal processes. A useful approach is to identify areas (commonly referred to as operational “problem children”) that may require additional attention.
Operations managers have insights that can uncover hidden inefficiencies that impact cost and sustainability. Because they are familiar with the facility, they can provide insights that may not be immediately obvious. Ask important questions:
- What unique challenges does each location have?
- Do you often find yourself overflowing with containers and needing more pickups than expected?
- Are machine and equipment failures leading to downtime and excessive waste?
The focus here is not just on how often pickups occur. The key is to ensure that the pick-up is appropriate depending on the amount of material being processed. Ideally, containers should be filled to near capacity to avoid incurring empty space costs. To tailor your operations to your actual processing needs, it is important to strike the right balance between pickup efficiency and the type of equipment used.
Involving managers in this process can shine a light on inefficiencies that may otherwise be hidden. If your location is constantly experiencing overflow issues, it may indicate a problem with scheduling or inventory management, which can add unnecessary costs. Conversely, if equipment goes down frequently, it may mean it’s time for a better maintenance plan or replacement, both of which can have significant financial implications if not addressed. There is.
Involving managers and employees in these discussions not only facilitates gleaning valuable insights, but also fosters a culture of continuous improvement. Their contributions have the potential to result in meaningful operational changes that support more sustainable practices while saving costs, especially considering that different locations have unique sustainability requirements.
By aligning waste collection schedules to actual needs and addressing recurring equipment issues, companies can streamline operations and minimize unnecessary costs.
Checklist for manager insights:
- Identify “problem children” (focus on areas that need special attention for improvement).
- Partner with management to leverage insights into facility-specific challenges.
- Evaluate equipment and maintenance.
- Foster continuous improvement.
In the food distribution and packaging sector, embracing sustainability offers many benefits that go far beyond mere compliance. Proactivity is essential in seeking opportunities for improvement. By assessing service levels, identifying overlooked waste streams, and taking a closer look at internal operations, food distributors can significantly reduce their environmental impact while realizing cost savings.
A win-win for efficiency and sustainability
In food distribution and packaging operations, sustainability and cost efficiency are increasingly intertwined. By valuing services, extracting value from waste streams, and engaging teams, companies can make measurable progress towards environmental goals while protecting their bottom line.
Implementing these self-assessments provides tangible benefits in increasing operational efficiency and ensuring customer satisfaction, especially in today’s green market. Taking these steps will benefit both parties. Not only do you improve your company’s sustainability profile, you contribute to a healthier planet while positively impacting your bottom line.
Ray Hatch serves as the company’s president and chief executive officer. Quest Resource Management Group (NASDAQ: QRHC) Since February 2016. A senior executive with deep experience in building profitable businesses and orchestrating transformational growth, Ray has over 25 years of experience in both the waste management and food service industries. He has managed businesses and divisions with more than 600 employees and revenues in excess of $1 billion. Previously, he served as president of Merchants Market Group, an international food service distribution company. Ray also held various executive roles at Oakleaf Waste Management, a waste outsourcing provider acquired by Waste Management.
