Review by Nick Johnson, CEO of Old Seville Waste Experts.

There was a time, long ago, when the only charges that would appear on a trash and recycling invoice, were the actual monthly service charge, and in some cases, a small fuel surcharge. However, in recent years trash and recycling vendors have begun to add fees to their contracts that appear on monthly invoices in the form of recurring, or one-time fees. Some of the most common fees that we see are:

• Container Refresh Fee
• Regulatory Cost Fee
• Recycle Offset Fee
• Delivery/Removal Fee
• Environmental Fee
• Extra yardage Fee

Unfortunately, the fee trend has spilled over into the medical waste pickup industry, as well. Previously, a customer would be charged a per container fee and a fuel surcharge per pickup. Again, like the trash and recycling industry, regulated medical waste vendors have made the determination to add fees to their contracts, which are passed on to the customer in the form of one-time or recurring fees. The most common of these fees are:

• Environmental Regulatory Fee
• Extra container fee
• Overweight container fee
• Additional pickup fee

These fees can account for up to a twenty-five percent increase in monthly trash, recycling, or medical waste disposal costs!

Customers can mitigate these fees by utilizing two strategies. The first is to carefully review every trash, recycling, and medical waste contracts, and question anything that seems suspicious or out of place. This will ensure that there is a clear understanding of what the contract allows the customer to be charged. Secondly, any fee that shows up on an invoice that was not discussed during contractual negotiations should immediately be flagged and questioned with the involved vendor, or sales representative who executed the original contract. If you are an owner, or manager for multiple locations, in multiple states, this may seem like daunting task. This is where the reliable, friendly, and expert staff at Waste Experts can help.

When you become a Waste Experts client, you are immediately assigned a bill2ing auditor that is responsible for reviewing all of your invoices for contractual accuracy, and to make sure that any fees are within the scope of the current contract, or work requested. We archive all of your contracts in our Database Management System, and monitor contract terms. We also create an Invoice Error Log to ensure that all incorrect invoices are flagged, the involved vendor is notified, and that your account is credited and corrected, per the existing agreements. Call 877-572-2628 or email [email protected] to request a free review of your current trash, recycling, and medical waste disposal costs.