A kitchen makes wet trash every day, cardboard with every delivery and food scraps that some cities now want kept separate. We arrange front-load dumpsters, compactors, balers and organics containers where local programs exist, from local providers in the markets we serve, with one agreement and one invoice across locations.
Back of house
Most kitchens sort into the same few containers. The fewer of them that overflow, the less odor and the fewer pests at the back door.
Every day
Wet and heavy. A front-load container on a schedule, or a compactor where volume is high.
Every delivery
Broken down and baled, or collected in its own container, so it stops filling the trash.
Front of house
Cans, bottles and containers, collected beside the trash where the local hauler takes them.
Where programs exist
An organics container, where a local program or rule calls for food waste collection.
Not ours
Grease and used cooking oil stay with your grease or rendering service. We do not arrange them.
Food scraps
EPA's Wasted Food Scale, an update to its earlier Food Recovery Hierarchy, ranks the ways to handle wasted food from most to least preferred.1 Prevention and donation come first. A collection service comes in lower down, at composting and anaerobic digestion, which still rank above the landfill.
Collected marks the pathways where food scraps usually leave in an organics container for a composting or digestion facility. Whether one takes commercial food scraps near you depends on the market.
Some states and cities require food scraps to be separated once a business passes a threshold. Our commercial recycling laws page tracks those rules, with the trigger for each.
Ask us whether an organics program is available at your address, and we will tell you what the local providers offer.
The services
Local providers do the work; we hold the contract, own the problems, and send one bill. Availability varies by market.
| Need | What to ask for | Read more |
|---|---|---|
| Daily trash | A front-load container with pickups set to how fast it fills | Commercial dumpsters and compactors |
| High volume or wet waste | A self-contained compactor, hauled when full | Compactors and balers |
| Cardboard | A baler or a cardboard container | Baler vs compactor |
| Food scraps | An organics container, where a local program exists | Commercial recycling laws |
| The enclosure | Containers that fit the enclosure, with room for each stream | Enclosure requirements |
| Remodels and buildouts | A roll-off with swaps for the project | Dumpster rental |
| A plumbing outage | A restroom trailer and hand wash stations | Emergency restrooms |
Grease is not part of what we arrange. Grease traps, interceptors and used cooking oil stay with your grease or rendering service. Keep grease out of the dumpster and the compactor.
Planning a new enclosure? Count the grease container if it shares the space. Our enclosure guide shows how one city treats it.
By area
General guidance, not a rule. Your volume, your lease and your local hauler's routes decide the setup.
| Area or operation | Typical need | Worth asking about |
|---|---|---|
| Prep and the line | Trash, plus food scraps kept separate where there is a program | Whether an organics pickup is available at the address |
| Receiving | Cardboard from every delivery | A baler or a cardboard container |
| Dining room | Mixed recycling and trash | What the local hauler accepts as recycling |
| Grocery and markets | Wet waste and a lot of cardboard | A self-contained compactor and a baler |
| Processors and commissaries | High volume trash and packaging, often on a dock | Compactor hauls and a backup roll-off |
| Cafeterias | Trash and recycling, with peaks around service hours | Pickup days that match the calendar |
| Grease | Grease trap and used oil service | Your grease or rendering service, not us |
Food waste that sits for days is what smells. More pickups, or a compactor that seals the waste, usually fixes it faster than a bigger container.
Bags beside the container and lids that will not close draw pests. Size the container and the pickups so it closes every night.
Leaks and spills around the container add to the smell. Tell us when a container is damaged or leaking and we contact the provider.
Holidays, events and patio season fill containers faster. Ask us for an extra pickup before the week, not after.
Several locations
A group of restaurants or stores rarely sits on one hauler's routes. The same service standards and the same invoice at every location is the point of using us.
Charges by location on one invoice, which can be split by entity, region or cost center.
Managers call us about a missed pickup, and we contact the local provider the same business day.
Open a new location and we source a provider in that market. Ask us which markets we cover.
Ask us for tons by stream, diverted and landfilled, by location, from hauler and facility tickets.
Sustainability report due? See ESG waste reporting for what the data can include, and the diversion rate calculator to check a rate yourself.
Send the location list and what each uses today. We source local providers and put them on one agreement and one invoice.
The rules
Food scrap rules come from your state and city. These federal sources cover the ranking of food waste options and the safety of the machines at the dock.
U.S. EPA
EPA's scale prioritizes actions that prevent and divert wasted food from disposal. It is an update to the earlier Food Recovery Hierarchy, and puts sending food down the drain, to landfill or to incineration at the bottom.1
OSHA SHIB 08-13-2013
OSHA warns that fatigue cracks can make a baler or compactor discharge door lock fail, a potentially fatal hazard to workers nearby. It lists the lockout and tagout and machine guarding standards and points to ANSI Z245.2
State and city rules
Where food scrap rules exist, coverage usually turns on weekly trash volume or tons of food waste. Our commercial recycling laws page links each rule to its text.
For a quote
The more of this we have on the first call, the faster the quote.
Common questions
Usually a front-load container or compactor for trash, a baler or container for cardboard, recycling where the local hauler takes it, and an organics container where a local program exists.
Where a local program exists, we can arrange an organics container. Whether a composting or digestion facility takes commercial food scraps depends on the market, so ask us about your address.
No. Grease traps and used cooking oil stay with your grease or rendering service. Keep grease out of the dumpster and the compactor.
It is EPA's ranking of ways to handle wasted food, from prevention and donation at the top to landfill and incineration at the bottom. It updates the earlier Food Recovery Hierarchy.
Yes. We source local providers in each market we serve and keep one agreement and one invoice. Availability varies by market.
Call sales at (888) 588-2607 or request a quote with the location list and what each uses today.
Local providers do the work. We source them, keep the service record and send one bill for every location.
Read next
Sources