How Quickly Does A Trash Compactor Pay For Itself?

Buying a trash compactor for your business is an important investment. Most companies will research compactors for sale before they sign on the dotted line.

Realizing an acceptable return on your investment (ROI) depends on selecting the best trash compactor for your facility’s specific needs. With the right compactor for the job, your company can see an ROI in one to two years.

There are two primary factors that affect trash compactor cost savings. They include:

  • The process of collecting compacted waste and placing it into the compactor.
  • The cost associated with hauling waste to landfill, waste-to-energy (WtE), or recycling locations. 

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What Materials Can and Can’t I Put in a Commercial Trash Compactor?

When improperly disposed of, industrial and other waste materials can have a huge impact on the environment, and they can be hazardous to anyone who may come into contact with them. 

So using proper waste management protocols is not only responsible but is essential in reducing these types of negative impacts. 

And for many businesses, that means using a commercial trash compactor.

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Sustainability and KenBay: The Zero Landfill Initiative

What Is the Zero Landfill Initiative?

The Zero Landfill Initiative is a comprehensive attempt by local and international nonprofit organizations to turn landfill waste materials into sustainable energy. This initiative is designed to help facilitate businesses, communities, and international enterprises to reclaim landfill space and redirect these areas toward creating more sustainable work and living spaces. Resource waste material recovery is modeled on the worldwide effort to provide the highest standard of living for countries and communities grappling with their volume of waste production and landfill concerns.

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Is a Commercial Trash Compactor Worth the Cost?

Purchasing a commercial trash compactor is often a necessary decision that needs to be reached when planning a facility or up-scaling operations. Several factors need to be addressed and resolved when finding the right commercial trash compactor for a facilities’ specific needs. The following will attempt to answer some of the more commonly asked questions regarding commercial and industrial waste and trash compactors.

How much does a commercial trash compactor cost?

A good place to start answering questions about costs is understanding what you are paying to collect and remove the trash from your facility now. They are:

  • What is the nature of the trash?
  • How much trash is produced each week/month
  • How much are you paying the company hauling your trash
  • How will the waste be collected and brought to the compactor
  • What percent of the trash do you expect to re-cycle
  • What is your expected ROI

Purchasing a commercial compactor is often a necessary decision that needs to be reached when planning a facility or up-scaling operation. The KenBay Industrial Rotary Compactor may not be the best fit for some large-scale applications. Still, if you are hoping to put a highly efficient waste compactor right at the source of the waste, it is worth looking into.

What can you put in a commercial trash compactor?

Typically, materials and objects to be recycled, such as cardboard and cardboard boxes, and the various types of bags, whether plastic or paper, are profitably compacted. If it is content having no value that is to be disposed of, it can be nearly anything one normally sends to a dump. Exceptions are items too large for any commercially available compactors, non-compactable materials such as metal objects, and all types of liquids.

A careful study of your facility’s objectives can usually give an adequate idea of what compactor size you’ll need due to the waste stream generated when the facility is fully operational. Many mid-sized and large facilities trust the KenBay RotoPac industrial compactor to minimize waste directly where it is being produced. Whether it’s plastic bottles, cardboard, styrofoam, toxic paint, used dairy containers, or other easily manipulated materials, the RotoPac is always up for the task.

Are trash compactors worth the money?

The simple answer is “yes” if one has a compactor that reduces the volume of a sufficient amount of trash such that its monthly hauling costs are less than the monthly amortizable cost of the compactor. Another consideration in making the compactor worth the money is that labor costs getting the trash to the compactor are reduced instead of collecting it inside the facility then hauling it to a dumpster before it is compacted. The KenBay RotoPac has a small footprint so that it can be located in a facility near the largest source of the trash being produced. The trash is then compacted before it is hauled to a dumpster for disposal.

Most RAM and other large-scale industrial compactor sit outside or occupy a full loading dock taking up critical space. If they sit outside, their life span will probably be shortened due to the elements’ interference. If they are inside and take up dock space, that is the room you could be put to better use.

A compactor that sits on your facility floor can be moved with a simple hand truck if necessary can ideal in most facilities. And if your industrial compactor has an on-average 6-to-1 compaction ratio, like the RotoPac, then you are saving money by reducing foot traffic needed to clear waste off the production floor.

How is a commercial trash compactor emptied?

The process to empty the container can of the typical large commercial trash compactor is that of the hauling firm using a truck with a hydraulic lift to load the container can, then hauling it to a dump or transfer station. Once there, the rear side of the can is opened, and with the hydraulic lift on the truck, the can is tilted such that the trash falls out. Then the truck hauls the container back to the facility where it was loaded when filled.

The beauty of the KenBay RotoPac is that since it compacts trash into a sealed plastic bag that sits on a standard-sized pallet, the trash generated can be easily moved and stacked into the hauler’s trailer with a forklift.

How does a commercial trash compactor work?

The most common type of commercial trash compactors uses a ram to move the trash into a container can. Container cans are large metal containers that one sees behind many retail stores. However, the ram only projects less than a foot into the attached can, so it actually only compacts trash once the can is beginning to fill. Other trash compactors using container cans compact the trash with an auger that then passes the waste into a container can.

Another type of trash compactor is the industrial rotary trash compactor. It compacts the waste into a bulk plastic bag by a high torque rotating and sweeping metal drum. This type of compactor has a small footprint, so it can be placed inside a facility where the trash is being generated. In that way, the trash is compacted before it is transported anywhere, and usually, with a forklift to the filled bags can be stacked to reduce hauling cost greatly.

Unless your compactor is continually removing your waste’s memory, even while crushing added trash, then you may not be getting your money’s worth. The KenBay RotoPac is unique in its constantly rotating drum head continually removes any bounce-back. This is instrumental in delivering a high compaction ratio as well as a great ROI.

How long does a trash compactor last?

Many factors come into play when asking how long a commercial trash compactor will last:

  • Is it an indoor or outdoor compactor?
  • How well will it handle corrosive or toxic materials?
  • Does it work seamlessly with conveyors or pneumatic feeding devices?
  • Is it serviced regularly?
  • Is it cleaned regularly?

Some industrial compactors which exist in punishing environments won’t last more than half a decade. The KenBay Stainless Steel RotoPac has proven itself reliable for decades in seafaring environments in which corrosive saltwater air would normally make the compactor quickly inoperable.

Do trash compactors need special bags?

Your run-of-the-mill industrial RAM compactors do not use bags. Several environments that find it advantageous to utilize compactors to compact trash into bags are ocean vessels, ingredient and food-producing areas, and where hazardous waste is being produced. In these instances, special bags are used on ships for ease of remove trash from them. In food areas, large polyethylene is utilized so it is easily sealed to prevent odors from escaping from the trash. Special UN-rated bags are used for transporting hazardous waste. However, much of the trach produced can place in polyethylene bulk gas.

Having an industrial compactor indoors and using it for liquids or any food waste odor makes it necessary to have a sealed bag. KenBay offers several different polyethylene plastic bags that can be easily sealed and stacked, and put aside until enough waste is generated to necessitate a call to a hauler and schedule a pickup.

In conclusion, if your facilities’ waste stream makes it so voluminous that it gets in the way of your production schedule or hampers worker safety, you’ll need to make the right decision regarding purchasing the right commercial waste compactor. Just remember, there different types of compactors and balers for crushing waste, but not everyone is right for your application.

A Quality Focused Aerospace Supplier

Industrial Waste Compactor RotoPac

Aerospace Supplier Facility Management

As an industry leading Aerospace Supplier founded in 1979, we have built an excellent reputation within the aerospace sector by providing top notch quality and integrity for almost 40 years. Our philosophy is to provide a superior product by controlling growth and maintaining a sole focus on aerospace. Simply put, we are the “Standard of Excellence” within the aerospace metal finishing industry. Our commitment to the customer, qualified personnel and in-house quality guidelines have made us and will continue to make us a leader within its industry.

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Label-Making Presses Sync with Continuous Compacting PLC-HMI RotoPac

ID Label Inc. is the industry leader in custom barcode label solutions.  They provide design engineering, production, signage and nationwide installation services of custom, variable-information barcode labels and asset tags for organizations in the warehousing, supply chain, manufacturing, electronics, calibration, medical, laboratory, and library markets.

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Cutting Down on Cardboard Packaging

Dumpster with boxes

Industrial Rotary Arm Compactor Compacts Cardboard

An animal health care company, one of the world’s largest producers of medicine and vaccinations for pets and livestock, recently began using a KenBay RotoPac industrial trash compactor for compacting their packaging waste.

As shipments come into the facility, boxes are emptied before the incoming items are moved to the production area. Packaging is not permitted in the production area where animal medicines are made.

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5 Hazardous Waste Disposal Safety Tips

Toxic waste

Dealing with hazardous waste disposal can often seem overwhelming.

Not only are there a multitude of hazardous waste disposal rules and regulations to adhere to, but there are also serious consequences associated with any mishap.

The first step in creating a plan to dispose of hazardous waste is to assess your procedures that produce waste and consider how you might diminish their byproducts.

Here are five tips to make sure you’re handling hazardous waste disposal safely and efficiently.

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Benefits of Owning an Industrial Trash Compactor

Dumpster with boxes

It’s a never ending battle: your company produces waste, your workers haul it to dumpsters or recycling bins – or spend work hours cutting up cardboard boxes – and the cycle begins again, all in an effort to keep trash from taking up space.

This scenario plays out every day at businesses around the country…except for the ones who understand all of the benefits and have made the decision to invest in an industrial waste compactor.

In this blog post, we’ll look at a few reasons why an industrial trash compactor can help your company: save space; improve safety and security; save hauling, transportation and fuel costs and, generally become a greener, cleaner company. (more…)

What to Look for in a Commercial Trash Compactor

Piles of compacted cardboard and trash

If you run a business, there are two goals likely never far from your thoughts: safety and sustainability.

A commercial trash compactor is your best bet for ensuring both those goals – among others – provided you find the compactor that is right for your company.

You’ll improve your company’s sustainability – and reduce the amount of waste you’d otherwise be sending to landfills – while also making sure your employees are safer by limiting hazards in the workplace. Read on to learn the three features you should look for when choosing a trash compactor.

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