Issue link: http://psai.uberflip.com/i/1212564
12 SURVEY OF WASTE DISPOSAL OPTIONS & THEIR IMPACT ON THE PORTABLE SANITATION INDUSTRY © Copyright 2020 by the PSAI. All rights reserved. Same Fewer More 55% 39% 6% In addition to the company-borne costs above, the distances traveled to reach a reliable disposal site create larger community costs. These are due to the impact of driving heavy vehicles on roads, carbon emissions from the vehicles, and their effect on traffic patterns and congestion. Disposal options are shrinking for many portable restroom operators. Earlier in this report we noted that the amount of waste that is being produced overall is growing faster than disposal infrastructure. This is having a significant impact on portable sanitation operators. As noted above, their direct and indirect costs to dispose are rising quickly. In addition to these challenges to the bottom line, the number of treatment options available to operators is being reduced at an alarming rate. Nearly four in ten companies has seen the number of disposal options drop over the last five years. Complicating this, around a quarter of companies have had loads refused at the facilities still open to them. Here are some representative comments in answer to the question, "What are the most common reasons your loads have been turned away?" "The pH level is too high." "Too much trash and undesirables." "The plant is at capacity for the day." "Our wastewater reclamation facility … will not take loads from vault toilets, gold mines, or sand traps. These have to be transported to another facility 75 miles away." "[Our city-owned site was] lumping portable toilet providers with septic tank providers saying [we] are overburdening their system…so they just cut everybody off." When a load is turned away, the operator is both inconvenienced and forced to find an alternative. Sometimes this is as simple as diluting the load with water to reduce concentrations to an acceptable level. Depending on what is in the tank and the capacity of the plant, the operator may be required to find an alternative location to dump the load. When this happens, it is invariably time-consuming and expensive. Based on what we know about diminishing plant capacity, the lack of options is likely to get worse before it gets better. Operators view the lack of treatment facilities, the cost of treatment, and the distance they must travel to a site as having the greatest impact on their company's operations and profitability. While many things are necessary to make a success of a portable sanitation business, it is clear that waste disposal is among the most crucial. Given the many aspects of this challenge, we asked operators to rank-order ten disposal-related issues in terms of those having the biggest effect on their firm's viability. The results are shown in Figure 21. Disposal Options Change – Past 5 Years – Figure 19 Loads Refused – Figure 20 4. 5. Same Fewer More 55% 39% 6% No Yes 24% 76% No Yes 24% 76%