Booking an empties pickup

Step 1: count by size and condition

Walk the stack and count bags by size. Split each size into the ones that look ready for another trip and the ones that are clearly done: torn, faded, cut open or missing a label. Rough counts are fine at this stage; we just need to know whether this is a pallet or a trailer.

Note the safety factor on a few labels while you're there. A stack of 5:1 bags goes straight to recycling. A stack of 6:1 bags may split two ways.

Step 2: bale them

Empty each bag, pull the liner, fold it flat. Stack bags of one size into bales and strap them, or lay them on a pallet and wrap it. Keep 6:1 bags in good shape apart from the rest so they don't get downgraded with the pile.

Write the size, the count and the prior contents on each bale with a marker or a tag. The driver won't count bags, and the receiver will check against your tags.

Step 3: photograph the labels

Take a close photo of one label from each size or batch, sharp enough to read the SWL, the safety factor and the maker. Add one photo of a bale and one of the area the truck will load from. Those three images tell us more than a page of description.

Step 4: dock details

Tell us how the bales will reach the trailer.

Step 5: name a window

Give us the first day the bales can go and the last day you can hold them. A wider window gives us more carrier options on your lane, and sometimes lets a pickup line up with an inbound delivery of new bags.

We'll come back with the plan: what goes to buy-back, what goes to recycling, the truck type and the proposed day. Once you confirm, we book the carrier and send you the appointment. If the date slips on the carrier's side, we tell you straight away.

On the day

Have the bales staged near the door, tagged, and dry. Check the driver's paperwork against your tags before the trailer is sealed. Keep a photo of the loaded trailer for your own records. If the count or condition at the dock differs from what you sent, tell us that day, not after the load arrives.

Getting the loading area ready

Clear a lane from the staging spot to the door wide enough for a forklift with a pallet. Sweep loose fines and broken strapping off the floor. If bales sit outside a door under an awning, put them on pallets so they stay off wet concrete. Keep any refused or hazardous bags well away from the staged lot so nobody loads them by mistake.

Tell whoever runs the shipping office that a pickup is coming, which carrier, and roughly when. Drivers on a tight schedule may leave if no one can find the paperwork.

If something goes wrong

Truck late or missing: tell us, and we chase the carrier and rebook. Bales rained on before the truck arrived: tell us before loading, since wet bags can change both the destination and the offer. Count short at the receiving end: your tags and your trailer photo are the record. Driver refuses a bale: note it on the bill of lading and send us a picture.

A sample request, written out

Here is the kind of message that gets a pickup planned in one reply. The figures are an example only. Pickup ZIP and site name. About 240 bags: 180 of 35 x 35 x 50 with spout top and spout bottom, 6:1, held plastic pellets, stored indoors; 60 assorted 5:1 bags, held the same pellets, some torn. Liners removed. Baled in 20s, on 12 pallets, wrapped and tagged. Dock-height door, forklift on site, receiving hours weekday mornings, check in at the guard shack. Can release any day in the next three weeks. Photos attached: two labels, one bale, the dock.

Everything a carrier and a partner need is there: count, size, rating, prior contents, packaging, access, hours and window.

After the truck leaves

The lot travels to the receiving partner, who unloads, counts and inspects it. Bags bound for buy-back get a closer look; recycling bales get checked for liners, residue and stray waste. We then confirm the final split and the settlement against what was agreed, adjusted only where the inspection found something different from your description.

If your company tracks waste diversion or needs paperwork for an environmental audit, say so when booking. Keep your own copy of the signed bill of lading, the bale tags and the trailer photo together; between them they document what left your site and when.