Tracking containers in the Tar Heel State

Forever Clean, headquartered in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, has been providing septic tank services as well as portable toilet and dumpster rental options to customers throughout central North Carolina for more than a decade.

The company, which is run by Scott Tart and his son Nick Tart, offers 10-, 15- and 30-yard dumpster rental options to the area’s commercial and residential contractors.

Thankfully for the company’s dumpster rental business, building activity has been taking place at a torrid pace, with Raleigh being ranked as the second fastest-growing large metro area behind Austin, Texas, based on U.S. Census Bureau data from 2010 to 2019.

According to Scott Tart, the influx of residents and businesses into what is known as North Carolina’s Research Triangle region has resulted in the company’s dumpster rental services being in constant demand.

“The area in which we live, it’s booming,” Scott Tart says.

“If there is a vacant piece of land, [someone] is trying to buy it and build on it,” Nick Tart adds.

Meeting customer needs

Thanks to the region’s fast-paced activity, dumpster providers have to be meticulous to keep up with the needs of their customers.

Staying on top of collection intervals is something that Forever Clean prides itself on, Scott Tart says.

“When people think of Forever Clean, they think ‘clean,’ they think ‘efficient,’ they think, ‘We’re getting what we’re paying for.’ We want to make their life easy. They have trust in us just to pick that dumpster up when it needs it,” he says.

Rather than wait for customers to call to pick up these assets, Forever Clean has taken a proactive approach and invested in dumpster monitoring cameras and related software provided by San Francisco-based Compology.

Compology’s cameras and sensors work by continually capturing container images in the field. This allows Forever Clean to see the type of materials present in its customers’ dumpsters as well as overall container fullness. This information allows the company to know when a dumpster might need to be serviced or if there is contamination that is being placed into the containers that shouldn’t be there.

Beyond image-based data being able to be accessed remotely, Compology’s automated dashboard allows users to see accurate fullness, weight and contamination measurements in an easy-to-read report. This intel allows Forever Clean to take action based on data trends to better meet customer needs, while also allowing the company to make more informed decisions on equipment investments.

Specifically, Forever Clean says the container monitoring cameras and software equip the company with the tools to track its roll-off container locations, manage its available inventory and remotely assess container fullness on a site-by-site basis.

The ability to remotely track when containers need to be serviced has resulted in its roll-off containers getting picked up seven days faster than if they relied solely on customer call-ins, Scott Tart says.

That’s time that same container can be out at another customer’s location generating revenue, he says. More on-demand pickups also translate to fewer problems related to overfilled containers.

“With Compology, we got our cameras [installed in our containers], we have our software, and we’re able to see which dumpsters are 90 or 95 percent [full] or better and make a call,” Scott Tart says. “We’re already on top of it [when a dumpster needs to be collected]. We see it before the customer sees it. That way we don’t run into spillage. We don’t run into dumpster overload. They shouldn’t have to worry about that anymore.”

According to Nick Tart, the ability to attend to customer needs on the fly helps differentiate the company from others in the area.

“It [gives us an] edge where we’re able to provide a better service for the customer,” he says.

Boosting the bottom line

Beyond having tangible benefits for the customer, being able to better manage collection needs has had a profound financial impact on Forever Clean.

“Without Compology, we wouldn’t be able to turn as many dumpsters. Right now, we’re turning 30 percent more each month, which is creating 30 percent more revenue for our company,” Nick Tart says.

Additionally, being able to reduce the time these dumpsters are sitting on-site has allowed the company to save money on purchasing new dumpsters. And since the Compology software allows Forever Clean to track information in real time, the company doesn’t need as many employees to manage its dumpster assets.

“We’re able to run a lean inventory because we’re turning our dumpsters faster, so we don’t have to order dumpsters as quick, so we don’t have to have as big of a yard,” Scott says. “We’re able to cut down on staff and field less cost.”

These advantages have also allowed Forever Clean to stand out among other dumpster providers looking to capitalize on building activity in the region.

“It helps us stay competitive with competitors both small and large. We run at a healthy margin. We run at 50 percent, which is almost unheard of in the industry,” Scott Tart says.

Less time spent tracking containers allows company management to focus its energy on what’s really important—finding new business. While the company started its dumpster rental business with around 20 containers, it is now up to around 300.

Thanks to its proven ROI, all of these containers have been outfitted with Compology technology.

“We’re always expanding,” Scott Tart says. “We order dumpsters; we order cameras. We order dumpsters; we order cameras.”

While the benefits of Compology’s dumpster monitoring solutions are many, Scott summarizes the competitive advantage for Forever Clean by saying, “You can get a dumpster anywhere, but you can’t get service anywhere.”

The author is the editor of Waste Today magazine and can be contacted at aredling@gie.net.