Article
Find out what your empties are before you ask anyone.
- Duration
- A few working days
- Effort
- Light, one person
- Consultants required
- None
Send your counts
Finished the count? Describe what you have in a quote request, and a partner supplier follows up. Availability depends on partner suppliers.
Why do this before asking suppliers
Packaging suppliers, waste haulers and recyclers will often assess a site for free. Those assessments are not dishonest, but each one is shaped by what that company sells. A hauler counts tons. A box supplier counts purchases. A recycler counts bales. Few of them count reusable containers you are currently destroying.
A few days of your own counting makes every subsequent conversation a negotiation between informed parties. That is worth considerably more than the twenty minutes a day it costs.
Day one: define the streams
Walk your site and list every place packaging leaves. Typically: the compactor, the baler if you have one, a pallet stack, a bay of accumulated bulk boxes, and at least one forgotten corner that nobody has inventoried in a while. List them, do not value them yet.
Next days: count
For three consecutive production days, count what goes into each stream. One tally sheet per stream, one person responsible, no estimating. Record: item type, size where obvious, condition in three bands (clean / worn / damaged), and quantity.
| Stream | Record | Unit | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bulk boxes to compactor | Count, size, condition band | Boxes/day | Often the largest recoverable value on site |
| Bulk boxes accumulating | Standing count, size | Boxes | Space cost plus material value together |
| Shipping cartons | Count, single size or mixed | Cartons/day | Single-size lots can be reusable stock, not scrap |
| Loose corrugated | Volume or weight | lb/day | Baling makes sense only above a certain volume |
| Pallets | Count, A / B / broken | Pallets/week | Frequently forgotten; frequently valuable |
| Bulk bags | Count, ratio if printed | Bags/week | Safety-factor rating matters for reuse; check what is printed |
| Disposal cost | Pulls, tonnage, invoice | Per month | The other half of the equation entirely |
Final day: value it
Set your counts against what you currently pay for disposal. Pricing for resale is by quote from partner suppliers, so treat any estimate as a rough order of magnitude. Both halves matter: avoided cost is as real as revenue and usually easier to approve internally.
- 01
Count for three days
Three consecutive production days is enough to see a pattern without becoming a project. Avoid unusual weeks.
- 02
Extrapolate carefully
Multiply to a month, then discount for the fact that counting weeks are always tidier than ordinary weeks.
- 03
Value both sides
Material value plus avoided disposal cost. The second number is what usually gets the decision approved.
- 04
Then request a quote
With numbers in hand, you can evaluate any offer more quickly.
Three findings that are common
- You may generate more reusable containers than you thought. Bulk boxes are easy to miss because they arrive full and leave flat.
- Your pallets may be worth more than you assumed. Even broken ones can have value, and some sites pay to have them removed.
- Your cartons may be getting baled. Single-size carton lots can be reusable stock; as recycled corrugated they are worth much less.
What to do with the answer
If the numbers are small, do nothing, and that is a legitimate result. If they are not, you now have a specification for what you want from a supplier rather than a vague sense that there might be something in it. Send the details in a quote request and compare the answers against your own arithmetic.
Questions
The review, answered.
How long does this really take?
Do I need a scale?
What do many sites discover?
Templates
The tally sheet, written out.
Copy this onto a clipboard. One sheet per stream, one person responsible, three consecutive production days.
| Column | What to record | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Date and shift | Day and shift number | Patterns can differ by shift |
| Stream | Compactor, baler, pallet stack, bay, other | Value differs by destination |
| Item type | Bulk box, carton, pallet, bag, film, waste | Determines how it is quoted |
| Size | Where obvious, such as 48 × 40 × 36 | Single-size lots are worth more than mixed |
| Condition | Clean / worn / damaged, three bands only | Finer grading is a supplier's job, not yours |
| Quantity | Count, not estimate | Estimates tend to run low |
| Notes | Anything unusual | A note such as 'always wet on Mondays' can find a cause |
Turning counts into a case
The valuation sheet.
Be conservative. The point is an order of magnitude, not a forecast.
- 01
Use conservative unit values
Take the low end of any quote rather than the middle. If the case still works at the low end, it works.
- 02
Extrapolate, then discount
Counting weeks are always tidier than ordinary weeks. Everyone's are.
- 03
Add avoided disposal cost
Compactor pulls, haulage, tipping. This half is as real as the revenue half and usually easier to get approved internally.
- 04
Add the space
Floor space held by accumulated packaging, at your own rate. Often larger than the material value.
- 05
Subtract the labour honestly
Sorting time at a loaded rate. If it exceeds the value, the review was worth doing and the change is not.
- 06
Then ask for quotes
With numbers in hand, you can evaluate any offer more quickly.
Do the count, then request a quote.
Describe what you have, and a partner supplier follows up. Availability and pricing depend on partner suppliers.