Baler Vs. Compactor: Which One Is Right for You and Your Business?

Ensuring that your commercial waste is disposed of properly is important for a business for many reasons. Not only are there legal rules and regulations that should be followed, but your waste disposal can also play an important part in your business’s environmental policy. Trying to reduce the amount of waste that you are creating is important, as is trying to reduce the amount that you are putting into landfills – recycling as much of it as you can.

Any business that generates a degree of commercial waste should be considering how they dispose of it most effectively and responsibly – and cost-effectively, and this is why they could think about looking at getting cardboard balers or compactors. Although balers and cardboard compactors do a similar job, they are different, and depending on the nature of your business and the waste that you are producing, you may need to decide which one is better for you to get.

Baling or compacting your commercial waste not only saves you space in your place of work, but you can also turn out to be financially better off as you potentially pay less for the collection and removal of your commercial waste.

What is a Baler?

For commercial purposes, a baler is used to compact recyclable materials such as paper, cardboard, metal, and plastics into a block which can then be easily and tidily stored before it is taken away by your material recycling company.

Balers will compact the materials, producing a bale, making it easier for businesses to store and then take away. There is a range of different sizes of the baler, from vertical balers (ideal for small to medium volumes of waste, and that can be operated by a single person) to semi auto horizontal balers (ideal for higher volumes of recyclable waste processing), and stockroom balers (ideal for retailers, to be used in the stockroom) – depending on your business’s specific needs.

During the baling process, the waste baler squashed materials into a bale shape which is then bound to ensure that it is easily kept in that shape and then easily stored, collected, and transported.

The four main benefits to getting a baler for your waste recyclable materials are:

• They make it easier to manage your waste
• They can help you to increase the amount of your waste that you are recycling, improve your impact on the environment, and reduce the money spent on sending waste to landfill
• They can help to create a cleaner working environment and reduce the need for big recycling bins
• They can make the handling of waste easy and efficient

What is a Compactor?

A commercial compactor is used by businesses that create a fair amount of landfill, non-recyclable, mixed waste. It is used to squash the waste down before it goes into a container, which is then typically taken away to a landfill or waste processing plant and replaced with a new one for filling up at your premises.

Compactors are usually available in a range of different sizes and can be customised according to your business’s specific needs.

The three main benefits to a business getting a compactor to process their commercial waste are:

• To reduce the volume of waste that can otherwise be bulky before it is taken away by a waste disposal company
• It can reduce the frequency of waste collection or the volume that needs to be collected
• It can help to reduce the amount of space that is taken up with waste or bins onsite

Choosing Between a Baler and a Compactor

Deciding whether a baler or a compactor is the best option for your business ultimately comes down to the kind of waste that you are producing and how important your environmental policy is to you. A compactor is more universal as it is used for waste that would go to the landfill, but if you have a lot of recyclable material, then it would be more socially responsible for you to get a baler to enable you to effectively dispose of it, sending it to a recycling facility. Some businesses carry out a waste audit to get an understanding of the amount of different kinds of waste that they produce before they make the decision.

Of course, it is also possible that having both is the best option for you. This facilitates your disposal of recyclable materials appropriately and responsibly as well as ensuring that your storage and disposal of missed non-recyclable materials are effective – and potentially saving you money on the disposal costs of both!