The waste industry glossary
40 terms from the yard, the scale house, the billing office and the marketing side, explained in plain language.
A
- Answer engine optimizationMarketing
- Answer engine optimization (AEO) is the practice of structuring a website and its public business information so AI assistants and search answer features can read, verify, and quote it when people ask questions. It builds on SEO by emphasizing clear, direct answers, accurate facts, and consistent business details.
C
- Call trackingMarketing
- Call tracking is the use of unique phone numbers, assigned to different marketing sources, so a business can see which ad, web page, or listing generated each phone call. It often includes call recordings, call duration, and caller location.
- Cart RFIDEquipment
- Cart RFID is a system that embeds a radio-frequency identification tag in a residential waste or recycling cart so a reader on the truck can record which cart was serviced at which address. Haulers and municipalities use it to verify pickups, track carts, and support pay-as-you-throw billing.
- Churn rateMarketing
- Churn rate is the percentage of customers who cancel or stop service during a given period, such as a month or year. In hauling, it applies to recurring accounts like residential subscriptions, commercial pickup, and recurring roll-off customers.
- CompactorEquipment
- A compactor is a machine that uses a hydraulic ram to compress waste into a denser load, reducing how often a container must be hauled. Stationary compactors sit at customer sites, while packers do the same job inside collection trucks.
- Construction and demolition debris (C&D)Regulatory
- Construction and demolition debris, or C&D, is waste produced by building, remodeling, repairing, or tearing down structures, including lumber, drywall, roofing, concrete, bricks, metal, and flooring. It is typically handled separately from household trash.
- Contamination rateOperations
- Contamination rate is the percentage of a collected recycling or organics load, usually by weight, that consists of items the program does not accept. A higher rate raises sorting costs and can lead to rejected loads or fees.
- Cost per leadMarketing
- Cost per lead (CPL) is the total marketing spend on a channel divided by the number of leads it generated in the same period. For a waste company, a lead is usually a call, form, text, or booking request from someone who wants service.
- Customer lifetime valueMarketing
- Customer lifetime value (CLV or LTV) is the total gross profit a customer is expected to generate over the entire time they stay with your company. For a hauler, it combines monthly revenue, margin, and how long accounts typically last.
D
- Diversion rateRegulatory
- Diversion rate is the percentage of discarded material that is recovered through recycling, composting, reuse, or similar programs instead of being sent to a landfill, usually measured by weight. Cities, businesses, and construction projects use it to track waste goals.
- Dry-run feeBilling
- A dry-run fee is a charge billed when a hauler's truck makes a trip but cannot complete the service, such as when a container is blocked, locked in, or not ready. It covers the driver, fuel, and truck time spent on the failed attempt.
- Dual-stream recyclingOperations
- Dual-stream recycling is a collection system where customers separate recyclables into two streams, typically fiber (paper and cardboard) in one container and commingled containers (plastic, metal, and sometimes glass) in another.
E
- Environmental recovery feeBilling
- An environmental recovery fee is a line item on a waste invoice meant to recover costs tied to environmental compliance, such as permits, insurance, testing, and regulatory fees. Haulers set the amount themselves, often as a flat monthly amount or a percentage of the bill.
F
- Franchise agreementRegulatory
- A franchise agreement, in waste collection, is a contract in which a city or county grants one hauler the exclusive right to collect specified materials in a defined area for a set term. It typically sets service standards, rates, and reporting duties.
- Front-load containerEquipment
- A front-load container is a lidded steel dumpster, typically 2 to 8 cubic yards, that a front-load truck lifts over its cab and empties into its hopper. It is the standard container for scheduled commercial pickup.
- Fuel surchargeBilling
- A fuel surcharge is a line item added to a hauling invoice that adjusts with diesel prices, so the hauler recovers fuel cost changes without rewriting the base rate. It is usually tied to a published fuel index and calculated as a percentage of the bill or a flat amount per pickup or haul.
G
- Google Business ProfileMarketing
- Google Business Profile is Google's free business listing that shows a company's name, service area, hours, phone number, reviews, and photos in Google Search and Maps. For local service companies, it is one of the main places customers find and contact them.
H
- Haul rateBilling
- A haul rate is the charge for picking up and transporting a container or load of waste to a disposal or processing site, usually separate from the disposal cost itself. In roll-off service it is often a flat amount per haul, with disposal billed by weight.
- Hazardous waste manifestRegulatory
- A hazardous waste manifest is a multi-party shipping document that follows hazardous waste from the generator, through the transporter, to the permitted treatment, storage, or disposal facility, with signatures at each handoff. It creates a paper or electronic chain of custody that regulators can audit.
L
- Landfill gasRegulatory
- Landfill gas is a mixture of roughly half methane and half carbon dioxide, with trace gases, produced when organic waste decomposes without oxygen in a landfill. Operators collect it through wells and pipes and then flare it or use it to generate electricity or fuel.
- Local services adsMarketing
- Local services ads (LSAs) are Google ad listings shown above standard search results for certain service businesses, where the advertiser pays per qualifying lead such as a call or message instead of per click. Eligible businesses usually pass Google's screening and display a badge.
M
- Material recovery facility (MRF)Operations
- A material recovery facility, or MRF, is a plant that receives collected recyclables, sorts them with a mix of machinery and hand labor into separate commodity streams, and bales them for sale to manufacturers. Most MRFs are designed for either single-stream or dual-stream material.
- Municipal solid waste (MSW)Regulatory
- Municipal solid waste, or MSW, is the everyday trash generated by households, businesses, and institutions, including packaging, food scraps, yard trimmings, paper, and furniture. It generally excludes industrial process waste, construction debris, and hazardous waste.
O
- Open market haulingOperations
- Open market hauling is a collection model in which multiple private haulers compete for customers in the same area, and each household or business chooses its own provider and rate. It contrasts with franchise or municipal systems that assign one provider.
- Organics diversionOperations
- Organics diversion is the practice of separating food waste, yard trimmings, and other biodegradable material from the trash stream and sending it to composting, anaerobic digestion, or animal feed programs instead of a landfill. It reduces landfill volume and the methane produced as buried organics break down.
P
- Pickup frequencyBilling
- Pickup frequency is the number of times per week or month a hauler services a customer's container, such as once a week, twice a week, every other week, or on call. It is a main factor in pricing and route design.
R
- Rear-load truckEquipment
- A rear-load truck is a refuse truck with an open hopper at the back, where waste is loaded by hand, by a cart tipper, or by lifting small containers. A hydraulic packer then pushes the material into the body.
- Rental periodBilling
- A rental period is the number of days included in a container rental price before additional daily or weekly charges begin. For roll-off and dumpster rentals it is commonly a set number of days, with extensions billed per extra day.
- Roll-off containerEquipment
- A roll-off container is a large open-top steel dumpster that a roll-off truck delivers, picks up, and hauls to a disposal site on rails or cables. Common sizes are 10, 15, 20, 30, and 40 cubic yards.
- Route densityOperations
- Route density is a measure of how tightly a hauler's customer stops are grouped geographically, such as stops per mile or stops per route hour. Higher density means less drive time between stops and a lower cost per pickup.
- Route optimizationSoftware
- Route optimization is the process of deciding which stops each truck serves and in what order to minimize drive time, fuel, and labor while meeting service windows and truck capacity. It is done by planners, software, or both.
S
- Scale ticketBilling
- A scale ticket is the receipt a disposal or recycling facility issues when a loaded vehicle is weighed, recording the date, vehicle, material, and gross, tare, and net weights. It is the basis for tipping fee charges and customer weight billing.
- Service area pagesMarketing
- Service area pages are website pages dedicated to a specific city, county, or neighborhood a company serves, each describing the services, pricing context, and local details relevant to that place. They help local customers confirm coverage and help search engines match the business to searches in that area.
- Side-load truckEquipment
- A side-load truck is a refuse truck with a hydraulic arm on its side that grabs a wheeled cart, lifts it, and empties it into the body. Automated side-loaders let one driver service a residential route from the cab.
- Single-stream recyclingOperations
- Single-stream recycling is a collection system in which customers put all accepted recyclables, such as paper, cardboard, plastic containers, metal cans, and often glass, into one cart, and sorting happens later at a material recovery facility.
- Swap-outOperations
- A swap-out, or swap, is a roll-off service in which the driver picks up a full container, hauls it to disposal, and returns an empty one to the same location. It lets a job site keep working without waiting for a container to be dumped.
T
- Tipping feeBilling
- A tipping fee is the charge a disposal or processing facility bills a hauler for accepting a load of waste, typically priced per ton or per cubic yard. It is one of the largest variable costs in collection.
- Tonnage overageBilling
- Tonnage overage is the additional charge billed when the weight of a load exceeds the tons included in the flat price, usually calculated per ton over the limit based on the scale ticket. Roll-off and dumpster rental companies use it to recover disposal costs on heavy loads.
- Transfer stationOperations
- A transfer station is a facility where collection vehicles unload waste, which is then consolidated into larger transfer trailers for efficient transport to a landfill, incinerator, or processing facility. It shortens the trip for collection trucks.
U
- Universal wasteRegulatory
- Universal waste is a federal category for certain widely generated hazardous wastes, such as batteries, mercury-containing equipment, and fluorescent lamps, that follow simplified collection and transport rules instead of full hazardous waste requirements. States can add items or set stricter rules.
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