Two Models, One Goal
Both spotted trailers and scheduled live-load pickups accomplish the same thing: they get your recyclables off your dock and turned into commodity revenue. The right choice between them comes down to three factors, your volume, your dock configuration, and how much operational flexibility you need. Understanding the tradeoffs upfront means you won't end up with the wrong setup six months into a program.
Spotted Trailers: How They Work
With a spotted trailer program, CRI drops an empty 53-foot trailer at your loading dock and leaves it there. You fill it on your schedule, during production runs, overnight, on weekends, whenever materials accumulate. There's no clock pressure, no driver waiting on your dock floor, no scramble to stage materials by a specific time. When the trailer is full, you call us and we swap it for a fresh empty, typically within 24 hours. The full trailer goes directly to our facility or to the mill, gets weighed on a certified scale, and you receive a weight ticket and payment for every load.
Who Spotted Trailers Are Right For
Spotted trailers are the right choice for high-volume generators: warehouses, manufacturers, distribution centers, print shops, and any facility producing consistent, large volumes of recyclables. They work particularly well for operations running 24/7 or with unpredictable production schedules, you don't need to coordinate your production floor around a pickup window. The other requirement is having a dedicated trailer spot at your dock. If your dock is tight and every bay is in constant use, a parked trailer may not be feasible. But for most warehouse and manufacturing operations, a spotted trailer program is the most efficient option available.
Scheduled Live Load Pickups: How They Work
In a scheduled live load program, a CRI truck and driver arrive at your facility at a pre-set time, daily, weekly, or whatever cadence fits your volume. Your team loads the truck directly from your containers, or CRI brings equipment to assist with the load. The truck goes straight to our certified scale, and the load is weighed and processed the same day. You receive a weight ticket promptly, and payment follows on the agreed schedule. Scheduled pickups require more coordination but offer hands-on service and immediate turnaround from pickup to weight ticket.
Who Scheduled Pickups Are Right For
Scheduled pickups are well-suited for smaller-volume generators, offices, retail operations, smaller manufacturers, where the material volume doesn't justify a parked trailer. They also make sense for facilities without trailer parking, urban locations with dock space constraints, or companies that prefer a more hands-on service relationship. If you want a driver on your dock regularly and you prefer getting your weight ticket the day of pickup rather than when a trailer gets swapped out, scheduled pickups deliver that.
The Hybrid Approach
Many CRI clients don't choose between the two models, they use both. A common setup is a spotted trailer dedicated to OCC (cardboard) at the main receiving dock, combined with scheduled weekly pickups for mixed paper, plastic, and other lower-volume streams. Each material gets handled the way that makes sense for its volume and value. We design programs around your dock layout and production patterns, not around what's easiest for our routing schedule.
CRI's Fleet
CRI operates more than 300 trailers deployed nationwide, which means we can spot trailers at facilities throughout the country without the wait times and logistics delays that smaller regional operators face. Whether you need a single trailer at one dock or a fleet-level program across multiple facilities, we have the equipment and the coverage. Learn more about our fleet.
Not Sure Which Is Right for Your Facility?
The honest answer is that the right model depends on details we can only assess by looking at your operation. CRI offers free facility assessments where we walk your dock, review your volume, and recommend the right program, spotted trailers, scheduled pickups, or a hybrid of both. No commitment required. Request your free assessment and we'll tell you exactly what makes sense for your facility.