Running a waste fleet is getting more expensive every year. Between the price of new trucks, high energy prices, and return trips for questionable missed pickups, it can be hard to make routes profitable. But with the right technology, you can lessen the pain of these everyday challenges and increase waste management fleet efficiency.
1. Optimize for route density
In the waste industry, fuel efficiency isn’t just about the shortest distance between two points; it’s about route density. Motive’s GPS fleet tracking and historical route data can increase your pickups per hour. You can identify where routes overlap inefficiently, then tighten the route density — or use live traffic patterns to reroute them when needed. This increases the number of lifts per shift without increasing fuel use or driver hours.
2. Cut unproductive idle time
While fuel surcharges might cover the cost of fuel, they don’t cover the engine wear and tear that comes with excessive idling. With Motive, use telematics data to identify idling events and see whether they occur outside of active collection zones. This data allows you to move beyond general reminders and provide specific, data-backed coaching to drivers who are leaving engines running.
3. Automate fraud prevention
In waste management, every gallon lost to fraud is a financial hit that can’t be recovered from the customer. With 100-gallon tanks, fraudulent fill-ups can become a massive loss that surcharges won’t cover.
Automate fuel controls by using a fleet fuel card. The Motive Card flags suspicious events for fleet managers, such as when the amount of fuel purchased exceeds the capacity of the tank, or when the purchased fuel type doesn’t align with the vehicle’s actual fuel type. These controls help stop fraud before it hits your bottom line.
4. Resolve disputes with evidence
When commercial clients claim a truck never showed, waste management companies need precise data to resolve the situation. Avoid an unpaid trip or goodwill credits by creating digital evidence. For example, your billing team can use Motive’s Power Take-Off (PTO) tracking to confirm that a service was performed and resolve disputes quickly.
When a bin isn’t picked up because it’s blocked by a vehicle or over capacity, capture these exceptions with Motive’s AI Omnicam. When the customer calls to complain, your team can provide a photo or video clip showing the obstruction, turning a potential refund into a billable extra service fee.
What’s so nice about the AI Omnicam, especially on the residential side, is if somebody says, ‘You didn’t pick up my bin,’ we can say, ‘Well, it wasn’t out there and we have video proof that it wasn’t there.
5. Move beyond general maintenance
A waste truck’s engine hours and stop-starts matter far more than its odometer. That’s because standard fleet maintenance intervals don’t account for the brutal wear of a residential route.
Use Motive’s telematics data to create service schedules based on engine hours and PTO engagement. This ensures your packers and roll-offs are serviced according to the actual work performed, preventing the hydraulic failures that can sideline a truck mid-route.
6. Prevent engine derates
For waste management fleets, an efficiency nightmare is the diesel exhaust fluid derate. A derate strands the truck and often means downtime, more work for another crew, and an expensive tow. Motive’s real-time fault code alerts help identify clogged filters or faulty sensors in the emissions system the moment it comes up. You can reroute the truck to the shop for DPF regeneration, commonly known as a regen, before the truck gets shut down on the route.
We’re able to get the notification if an engine light comes on. We can see the code, and understand what’s wrong with the vehicle right away. From the engine fault code, we proactively know how to respond. We know right away if we need to send a tow truck or if the truck is drivable to get it back to the shop.
7. Track assets carefully
In waste management, inventory may be scattered around a service area in the form of roll-off containers and dumpsters, making them all too easy to lose or forget. And when assets sit at customer sites longer than expected, you’re missing out on the chance to generate revenue with that asset somewhere else. Use Motive Asset Gateways to keep track of your assets at all times to maximize uptime.
8. Balance fleet usage
When vehicles aren’t used at the same rates, the workhorses rack up engine hours and more repairs, while other vehicles sit in the lot.
Motive’s dormancy insights allow you to compare dormancy across your entire fleet so you can force a rotation. By moving your overworked trucks to lighter routes and getting the others back into the mix, you balance the wear and tear across the fleet.
9. Use data to drive replenishment cycles
Buying a new diesel garbage truck today can cost $350,000 to $500,000 — or up to $700,000 for electric. You can’t afford to guess when it’s time to replace an asset. As Ryan Ennis, chief information officer at FusionSite notes, telematics data allow you to determine the exact risk.
“Motive allows you to focus on utilization of your assets and to determine risk for replenishment cycles,” said Ennis. “That allows you to focus on key characteristics, like your fuel purchasing program.”
Better waste management fleet efficiency is within reach
A final way to improve waste management fleet efficiency is by working in an all-in-one platform like the Motive Integrated Operations Platform. It removes the barriers between your data and gives every department the same source of truth.
Unlike other fleet management technology providers, Motive enables us to manage our whole fleet on a single platform. Now we can see all our operations in one place, whether it’s compliance or safety, maintenance or asset tracking. Having 360-degree visibility into our operations saves us time and improves productivity.
Ready to find out what Motive has to offer? Check out our waste and recycling solutions or request a demo.
