Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for waste management companies.
A checklist built from how waste management companies work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Customer and container register
- Route planning and lift records
- On-call hauls and container swaps
- Weighbridge tickets and disposal receipts
- Rates by material and billing
- Waste streams and compliance records
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For the dispatcher
- For drivers
- At the weighbridge
- In accounts
- For compliance and the owner
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Lifts and misses by route, driver and bin type
- Tonnes by material, waste code, customer and facility
- Skips and bins out by customer and days on site
- Revenue by customer, charge type and recyclate rebate
- Disposal receipts and transfer notes still outstanding
- Fleet services, walk-round defects and inspections due
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- WhatsApp or other messaging
- SMS
- Weighbridge software file import
- Accounting software export
- GPS tracker feeds
- Card and bank payments
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Is it for collection firms or for disposal sites?
- Can drivers work where the signal is weak?
- How are skips and bins tracked?
- Can different materials carry different charges?
- Does it produce transfer notes?
- What about hazardous waste?
- Can we move our customer list from a spreadsheet?
- Who holds the weighbridge records?
- What does it cost?
- Do we need it for a small fleet?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Missed lifts go unrecorded
- Container locations are guessed
- Weighbridge tickets stay in the cab
- Disposal paperwork is scattered
- Rates differ by material and customer
Prefer to talk it through? See the waste management companies page.