Best Practices to Reduce Gas Station and Convenience Store Waste

While there are many methods to improve the success of your business, it’s well known that one of the most reliable involves eliminating unnecessary costs. Waste is one such cost center that shouldn’t be ignored, even if it’s a relatively small part of your operations. As with all direct costs, any savings generated by reducing the volume of waste goes directly to boosting your bottom line.

There are a number of simple actions that your gas stations and convenience stores can take to reduce the amount of trash that they send to landfill, which we look at in this article.

Store Practices to Reduce Unnecessary Organic Waste
Distribute Surplus Food to Charities

Given the perishable nature of fresh food, gas station convenience stores will always end up with some surplus produce. However, rather than throwing out unsold edible food, it is possible to identify networks to provide surplus edible food to charities.

Lots of local organizations and food banks take donations, with non-liability written into national legislation such as The Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, which specifically protects food donors. Organizations that accept excess food for human consumption usually have their own standards, which require that the food is properly stored and handled, and within expiration dates.

California’s AB1383 organic legislation encourages food donation for human consumption as a way to keep more food out of landfills and as an alternative to composting.

Check out our article by clicking here that gives other practical solutions to reduce the amount of organic waste that your gas stations and convenience stores generate.

Correct Allocation and Positioning of Trash and Recycling Containers
Help your customers to do the right thing by placing waste and recycling bins at every pump. If someone is stopping to pump gas, the chances are that they’re not going to go out of their way to toss their water bottle in the recycling. They’ll most likely end up tossing it in whatever bin is closest, or worse, litter on your lot.

Don’t make the mistake of only having a trash can near the pumps and a recycling bin in the kiosk. Avoid stream contamination by selecting a bank of bins that collects all your streams, and use separate bags for each stream so there’s less of a risk of contamination.

This won’t just help to reduce your waste volumes, but will also help to keep your recyclable streams cleaner. See our article by clicking this link for the other simple steps your gas stations can follow to keep your recycling streams as clean as possible.

Use Recycling Containers with Rigid Liners to Prevent Liquid Spills on the Lot
Because gas station and convenience store customers are in a rush, they’re unlikely to take the time to empty out any liquids into an appropriate area. So, prepare your recycling program with liquid capture solutions to prevent liquid waste from seeping onto the concrete for your staff to clean up.

Integrate Waste Reduction Methodologies into Staff Training Programs
It really pays to involve your staff in any waste minimization efforts that you wish to implement across the business. The best way to ensure that this happens is to include short waste handling modules in employee onboarding and to develop ongoing training programs.

Include a basic summary of your organization’s waste policy and procedures, and provide practical guidance, in the form of standard operating procedures (SOP’s), on topics such as:

  • How to handle packaging to avoid contamination and allow for optimal reuse and recycling
  • How to reduce waste volume by flattening cardboard and plastic sheeting
  • Identification of materials for reuse or recycling
  • Procedures for presenting waste reduction ideas (e.g. packaging change) ideas to management

Best Practice Waste Management with NWA
National Waste Associates (NWA) has decades of experience providing practical, low-cost waste management solutions to our customers. We apply this experience to provide your gas stations and convenience stores with best practice guidance that generates proven savings in the real world. Click this link to learn more.

Our expert team looks at your operations holistically, and provides solutions that are tailored right down to your individual gas stations. This approach provides the greatest savings in the fastest time, prioritizing the areas of the waste operations that are costing you the most.

Want to implement reduction solutions across your gas station and
convenience store chain that impact your bottom line?

Contact our experts today at 1-888-692-5005 x6, or email us at sales@nationalwaste.com.

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