Taking Control of Overage & Contamination Fees Saved This Client $121k/year

How DSQ Discovery helped reduce avoidable costs hiding in plain sight.

The Challenge: Hidden Fees, Rising Costs

For many waste brokers and property owners, overage and contamination fees are just part of doing business. These charges show up on invoices quietly—an extra $75 here, $200 there—and often go unchallenged because they’re difficult to track and even harder to predict.

A DSQ Discovery software user reviewed their customers’ multi-family portfolio after suspecting that their monthly waste costs were creeping higher.

They were right, but not for the reasons they thought.

What You Can’t See Will Cost You

Months and months of invoices were reviewed through DSQ Discovery. Going line item by line item allowed our customer to look beyond base rates; they pulled every fee, fine, and surcharge tied to service behavior.

Here’s what they found:

• Overage charges across properties totaled $6,258/month
• Contamination penalties added another $3,857/month
• These fees represented nearly 20% of their total monthly waste spend

And the kicker? These costs were entirely preventable.

Actionable Fixes, Not Just Observations

Rather than leaving the client with raw data, the DSQ Professional Services team, aligned with DSQ Discovery, helps software users develop a property-by-property action plan to reduce and eliminate avoidable charges.

1. Right-Size Service Levels

DSQ Discovery evaluated bin size and pickup frequency against known occupancy and usage trends. In multiple cases, overages were a result of containers being too small or pickups too infrequent, not “bad behavior.”

Increasing pickup frequency by 1x/week at key sites avoided excess weight and volume charges, without raising overall cost, thanks to negotiated service adjustments.

2. Contamination Mitigation

DSQ Discovery identified contamination patterns (e.g., specific sites getting flagged repeatedly) and advised targeted interventions:

• Clear signage on recycling protocols
• Staff/tenant training at high-risk sites
• Vendor engagement to clarify rejection thresholds

These changes were designed to reduce ongoing penalties and promote better recycling behavior portfolio-wide.

3. Monitor & Maintain

To prevent costs from creeping back, DSQ Professional Services proposed monthly tracking dashboards to:

• Flag properties nearing contamination/overage thresholds
• Quantify progress across the portfolio
• Keep site teams and vendors accountable

This approach moved our client from reactive cleanup to proactive control.

DSQ Discovery

DSQ Discovery is an invoice automation software that allows clients to improve their bottom line. It leverages your team and provides helpful decision-making data through:

• Real-time data and reporting
• Sensor integration
• Contract and vendor management
• API automation
• Accounting integration

Schedule a call with our sales team and reveal hidden costs in your waste operation!

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