NERF September 2012
Garden Waste Collection Service
Paul Jones
Head of Waste and Fleet Management
www.northumberland.gov.uk
Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council
Presentation Outline
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Background & context
Service review & design
Implementation
Customer care challenges
Initial performance
Key results to date
Conclusions & key issues
www.northumberland.gov.uk
Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council
Background
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Local Government Review 2009
Harmonisation of service standards & charges
Significant savings targets
Improve service performance
Discretionary services – self financing
PFI Contract implementation – HWRC upgrades
www.northumberland.gov.uk
Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council
Service Review
Diverse standards, charges and operations
• Charges from free ‘opt out’ to £32/bin/year
• Geographic coverage variable
• Containers – 240 litre wheeled bins, biodegradable
sacks, re-useable sacks
• Service frequency & duration – fortnightly 12 months;
fortnightly 9 months and then monthly, fortnightly 9
months then winter stop
• Collection costs £400K, income £170K therefore - net
cost = £230K
• Free service – not an option!
www.northumberland.gov.uk
Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council
Implementation
• Fortnightly scheme 9 months – stop over winter
• Use 240 wheeled bins, gradual phasing out of biobags
and reuseable sacks
• Charge of £20/bin/season – not limited per house
• Maintain geographic coverage – extend if possible!
• Phased implementation
– SE & North - April 2009
– West - May/June 2009
www.northumberland.gov.uk
Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council
Customer care challenges
– Notification to service users
– Introduction of clear, cost effective and reliable
payment arrangements
– Means of identifying ‘paid’ customers (bin stickers)
– Robust administration – front & back office – single
central data source linked to LLPG
– Arrangements for recovery and delivery of bins
– Ability to check collection days – self service
– Improve geographic accessibility of service
– Ease of checking eligibility for service – as not
provided countywide
www.northumberland.gov.uk
Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council
Initial Performance
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Significant and sustained adverse media coverage
~34% uptake in what had been a ‘free area’
Overall users dropped from 24,000 to 15,000
60% paid by cheque in the first year (10,000) – no online facility
Delays in processing customer payments
Savings targets achieved - £270K - exceeded target by £23K
Reduction in collected green waste
Increase in HWRC inputs
No increase in residual tonnage
Marginal (0.27%) drop in overall household waste composting rate
compared to previous year 12.17% in 2008/9 to 11.9% in 2009/10
www.northumberland.gov.uk
Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council
Key Results to Date
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Service uptake growing from 14,700 to 20,000 +
Coverage extended
Financially sustainable (and income continues to grow)
Modest charge increase
Transactional web & rewards
Customer satisfaction increased from initial 34% to
current 60% - (the rest don’t like paying)
• And……
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Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council
• Yields per bin
increased from
390Kg to 506Kg
• If you are paying
you make sure
you get your
money’s worth!
www.northumberland.gov.uk
Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council
• Some migration
into HWRCs
www.northumberland.gov.uk
Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council
Household Waste Composting Rate
• Initial dip, followed by
gradual increase in
overall composting
rate to current 13.5%
www.northumberland.gov.uk
Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council
Total Household Waste
• Total
Household
waste arisings
falling
• No increase in
disposal of
garden waste
in general
household
bins
www.northumberland.gov.uk
Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council
• Significant ‘channel shift’ from 60%
cheques to 28%
www.northumberland.gov.uk
Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council
Conclusions & Key Issues
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Actively manage PR
Administration arrangements must be robust
Customers expect a better service when paying directly for it!
Single database linked to LLPG
Encourage self-service payment – avoid cheques.
Crews must be able to readily identify paying customers
Collection, washing & storage arrangements for bins
Expect significant drop-off in % of users if stopping free service
Expect higher ‘yield’ per bin
Impact on routes/vehicles/staffing levels
Consider other policies – side waste, bulk collections
Provide customers with choices (1.2.3 leaflet)
Expect increase uptake at HWRCs and modest temporary impact on
overall compost rate.
www.northumberland.gov.uk
Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council
Thank you
Paul Jones
Head of Waste and Fleet Management
www.northumberland.gov.uk
Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council