How private haulers can help prepare their fleets for new waste management contracts

Whether your company is trying to secure a new waste management contract or renew one, service quality can play a role in how you’re evaluated. If your record is marred by frequent missed pickups or property damage reports, it could result in lost opportunities and cause you to fall behind competitors.

One way to help prevent this from happening is to prioritize consistency in your operations. When your company provides steadier service, it can reduce the risk of disputes or complaints. And if you’re able to demonstrate that history of strong performance, you bring useful context to the negotiating table.

In this post, discover practical ways to provide and document reliable waste hauling operations, so your company stays ready for new waste management contracts.

Protecting drivers and the community while hauling

During collection operations, safety is your most important goal. Over time, a strong commitment to it shows prospects and customers that your company is good at managing risk while fulfilling its waste management service agreements. Build a safety record that helps boost your credibility in contract talks by:

• Coaching your operators with data: Behaviors like speeding can raise your risk of a collision during service. Through evidence-based coaching, you can encourage your collections team to stay safer while they complete their routes. A fleet management platform makes this easier by allowing you to monitor how often harsh driving events might be occurring. Using those insights, you can highlight what your operators are doing well, discuss improvement areas fairly and provide targeted support.
• Addressing urgent behaviors in the cab: While face-to-face communication is important, it shouldn’t be the only form of coaching your operators receive. Direct support behind the wheel can help them address other behaviors that contribute to collision risk. With AI dash cameras that can detect distracted or risky events like texting, eating or tailgating, your operators receive timely verbal alerts, spurring them to adjust their driving in the moment.
• Improving operator visibility: While your team moves their side-loaders through tight streets, they must also carefully watch for pedestrians, objects and other vehicles. Advanced vehicle cameras can help them stay safer by providing better vision into their surroundings. For example, Geotab’s GO Focus Pro supports up to five auxiliary cameras for full 360° coverage, including side- and rear-facing views for your drivers. If the system predicts an imminent impact while a truck is moving forward or backing up, it will provide an alert that prompts your driver to respond.
• Measuring collision risk: As your safety record takes shape, you’ll also want to closely track your fleet’s incident likelihood. Geotab’s Collision Risk model can help you do that, accounting for factors like driving behaviors, weather and road types. If you notice a downward trend over time, that’s a positive sign that you’re headed in the right direction. However, a sustained rise in risk could indicate that it’s time to reevaluate your safety priorities.

Efficiently completing your collection routes

In addition to safe operations, current and future clients alike will always expect on-time collection service. With clearer fleet visibility, punctual pickups are easier to deliver. That’s because you gain deeper insight into your vehicles’ activities and performance, helping you address delays earlier, decrease breakdown risk and limit interruptions. Here are three ways to provide efficient service that’s worthy of new contracts:

• Predict garbage truck maintenance needs: Proactively monitor key fleet health indicators like electrical system ratings, remaining oil life and breakdown risk to plan smarter truck maintenance. Acting on predictive insights can help you reduce the risk of key part failures that disrupt routes and damage client trust.
• Optimize routes and provide digital navigation: Smooth collection service also depends on reliable routing. If your team currently uses paper-based route sheets, they might be hard to read or easily lost, leading to confusion or incomplete stops that frustrate customers. Tools like Rasters Open in new window can help your drivers avoid missed pickups through specialized turn-by-turn navigation. For example, the system allows you to plan routes that guide operators to waste containers stored behind properties, while also accounting for common collection maneuvers like U-turns and multiple lane passes.
• Monitor route completion reports: Having near-real-time visibility into route progress could spell the difference between addressing a problem early and fielding avoidable complaints later on. Geotab’s Public Works solution enables you to keep service on track by allowing you to compare vehicle locations against uploaded route plans. If an operator appears to be falling behind on their assignment, you can investigate the setback and address it sooner.

Saving evidence that proves the reliability of your service

Although strong service is fundamental for a contract-ready waste fleet, it’s just as important to prove the quality of your team’s work when you’re competing for deals. This is what backing up your collection operations with evidence looks like:

• Reviewing historical GPS data: Start by understanding the past routes of your sanitation trucks. Where were your collection vehicles on a specific day, and were they following the right paths? Trip history data makes both questions easier to answer. By proving where your trucks have traveled, you show consistent vehicle movement and can respond confidently if a concern arises.
• Capturing proof of service: While GPS data is useful for seeing where your sanitation trucks have traveled, it won’t confirm whether a bin was emptied at every stop. Help your company prove its pickups by monitoring collections with solutions like GO Focus Pro*. For instance, if the system detects a missed stop, it can alert you through the MyGeotab platform. And if a resident alleges that one of your drivers failed to collect their waste, you can pull visual evidence of what happened to help address the complaint.
• Logging service exceptions: Your operators’ goal is to complete every planned pickup, but that may not always be possible. For instance, if a waste can is missing or blocked by a mailbox, your driver might be forced to skip that stop and move on. To help your team resolve questions about events like these during contract renewal talks, you need to record the reasons for them. With Routeware SmartCity Open in new window, your operators can also tag service exceptions at the places they occur and capture photos for supporting evidence. Documenting exceptions shows your commitment to thorough and accountable operations, while also helping you settle resident disputes before costly go-backs are needed.

*Add-on capability that may incur additional charges.

Position your company for tomorrow’s waste management contracts

How your company handles its current waste management service agreements will lay the foundation for continued growth. When clients and prospects see the solid work your crew is doing every day, it builds their confidence in your ability to take on new or expanded contracts in the future.

Geotab’s solution can help you maintain consistent operations and build a service record that supports scalability. By connecting routing tools, fleet data and video insights in one platform, you gain a complete solution that enables your company to reduce risks and keep its operations efficient.

Ready to help your team cut callbacks and build stakeholder trust? Read our ebook to learn more about service verification for waste management.