Key Points
- UK district council serving 116,000 people
- Instant access to correct recycling process for over 10,000 items on the council website
- Over 500 item searches by residents in the first morning alone
- Reduction in number of regularly seen items in contamination lists
Challenge
Wychavon District Council is the largest of the six district councils in Worcestershire. It has a population of over 116,900 people across over 100 towns, villages and hamlets.
Ian Dipple, Marketing and Communications Manager, was challenged by Council leaders to implement a solution that would help residents recycle with confidence and reduce costly contamination.
“Our Council members wanted a tool that not only told residents what goes in the green bin, but also what didn’t. And something that would offer alternatives where possible.”
Ian’s first thought was to build a lookup table for the Council’s website using in-house resources. But he quickly discovered that he simply didn’t have the resources internally to turn the concept into reality. Even a fairly simple solution would take significant time and budget to build.
Solution
Fortunately, Ian was introduced to an off-the- shelf, purpose-built recycling engagement and communication solution.
“What could have taken us years to implement, we had up and running in just a few months,” said Ian.
Wychavon use the Waste Wizard and Waste Sorting Game web tools from Routeware.
With 10,000 items already included in the Waste Wizard database, that’s 10,000 items Ian didn’t have to set up manually. All he had to do was review and verify the proper disposal method for each item and specify handling for certain contamination concerns.
“For example, things like electrical items, toys, and coat hangers are recyclable, but we don’t take them in the green bin,” said Ian. The team at Routeware showed Ian how to set up the tools to accommodate local recycling options like sack collections and village bottle banks.
“There’s often a misconception that do-it-yourself is quicker and cheaper than a purchased solution. This belief can often lead to time and resources spent trying
to build something that doesn’t meet requirements. These tools were definitely cheaper and easier than I thought it would be, and the support is really good.” – Ian Dipple, Marketing and Communications Manager
Benefits
While Waste Wizard quickly met the council’s need for helping residents sort their recycling, the Waste Sorting Game is an added bonus that provides a fun and engaging way to encourage recycling habits.
“Our Chairman loved the Waste Sorting Game so much that he immediately started using it as part of his educational eco visits to schools,” said Ian. Council members are sharing the game on their social media platforms and at local events, too.
Both Waste Wizard and the Waste Sorting Game add energy and substance to Wychavon’s promotional waste and recycling campaigns. Each time a resident searches for answers about a particular waste item, that data is collected and it used to design campaigns addressing specific areas of confusion, even down to a particular location.
The council also plans to use the Waste Wizard’s red flag tools to raise awareness of seasonal issues like pumpkins, fireworks, Christmas tinsel, and wrapping paper. The plan is to be proactive with messaging on social and local media, then monitor the data to see the impact on searches and actual behaviour.
The council’s initial aim was to create an Excel-based tool for their website that would address only the items going into the green recycle bin. With the Waste Wizard they have an extensive database covering a much wider range of items and providing the correct method of disposal based on the resident’s postcode.
“Waste Wizard was far superior to anything we could’ve done in-house,” says Ian.
See the tools in action at www.wychavon.gov.uk/waste-and-recycling/recycling-search
“Over 500 residents accessed the Waste Wizard item search in the first morning, demonstrating the citizen demand there is for digital recycling tools.” – Ian Dipple, Marketing and Communications Manager
About Routeware
Routeware is a leading technology company for the waste and environmental services sector. In the UK, our software and services have been used by over 200 local authorities and most of the leading waste and resource management companies, helping save an estimated £100M+ for UK local government.
