TrashCanBossPro Blog — Recurring Plans

Adding Recycling and Yard Waste Cans to a Bin Cleaning Plan

Most homes do not have just one can. There is the trash can, usually a recycling can, and in many towns a yard waste or green waste can too. Each one is a chance to add value to a stop you are already making. Handled well, extra cans raise your revenue per house without adding a single mile to the route.

Extra Cans Are the Easiest Upsell

If you price by can count, as described in Pricing Trash Can Cleaning Plans by the Number of Cans, adding a can to a plan is straightforward. The customer already trusts you, the trailer is already in the driveway and the tech is already set up. Cleaning one more can takes a few minutes and adds a full can's price to the plan.

Many customers sign up for trash only because that is the can that smells. A few weeks later they notice the recycling can looks dirty next to the clean one. That is the moment to offer it.

Recycling Cans

Recycling cans are usually cleaner than trash cans, but they are not clean. Sticky soda residue, food left in containers and rainwater sitting in the bottom all add up. Customers with recycling cans close to the house or garage door often notice the smell in summer.

Some operators charge the same for a recycling can as for a trash can. Others charge a little less because it is quicker to clean. Pick one and keep it consistent.

Yard Waste Cans

Yard waste cans collect grass clippings, leaves and sometimes food scraps where composting programs allow it. Wet grass left to sit turns into a slimy, sour mess at the bottom of the can. These cans can be some of the dirtiest on the route in late spring and summer, and they are often overlooked by customers until someone points them out.

Yard waste cans are a good seasonal add. A customer may want theirs on the plan from April to October and off it in the winter, when the can sits mostly empty.

Different Pickup Days

Here is where extra cans get tricky. In many towns, recycling or yard waste is picked up on a different day than trash, or on alternating weeks. You want to clean each can right after it is emptied, but you do not want to make three trips to one house.

A few ways operators handle it:

• Clean everything on trash day. If recycling and yard waste go out the same day as trash, this is easy.
• Pick the day when most cans are empty. If recycling goes every other week with trash, schedule cleanings for those weeks.
• Ask the customer to leave all cans out. Some customers will put a can back out on cleaning day if you remind them.

TrashCanBossPro stores the city trash pickup day on each address and shows it on the job card. Use the can location notes for the details that vary, like “Recycling picked up every other Thursday, yard waste kept behind side gate.” More on this in Scheduling Trash Can Cleaning Plans Around the City Trash Day.

Keep the Job Card Accurate

Every address in TrashCanBossPro has separate counts for trash, recycling and yard waste cans. They show under the address on the office lists and on the tech's phone: “2 trash · 1 recycling · 1 yard waste · Trash day Wed.” When a customer adds a can, update the count and add the line to their plan. The tech sees the change on the next visit and the invoice follows.

The reverse matters too. If a customer drops their yard waste can for the winter, update the count so the tech does not clean it and the invoice does not charge for it. A mismatch between the cans cleaned and the cans billed is one of the fastest ways to lose trust.

How to Offer Extra Cans

A few simple moments to bring it up:

• At sign-up. Ask how many of each can they have. Put the full price in front of them with all cans included.
• After a cleaning. Send the after photo of the clean trash can next to the dirty recycling can.
• In spring. Text yard waste customers before mowing season starts.
• When the tech notices. Have techs note extra cans at the curb so the office can follow up.

Customers can also request added service from the customer app, which lands with the office to confirm and price.

More Cans, Same Stop

Every can you add to an existing plan is revenue with almost no added drive time. Count the cans on every address, plan around the different pickup days and keep the job card and the invoice in step. For more on recurring plans in TrashCanBossPro, visit the trash can cleaning subscription software page.