Key Points
- Back office and In-Cab system connected to the council’s citizen management system.
- Missed bin calls to the council down 20% on an average week.
- Calls about collection dates down 15%.
- Now takes just 4 weeks from beat design to the start of the changed service.
Background
Falkirk has long been one of the most innovative councils in the country when it comes to waste management. They were the first local authority in the UK to introduce a three-weekly residual collection, a practice that has since been followed by a number of other councils, and have now become one of the first in the country to move to a four-weekly collection of residual waste.
In order to reduce the number of missed bin calls and lower the cost of dealing with these enquiries, Falkirk Council wanted to ensure that accurate information about waste and recycling collections was available online. They also wanted to speed up the process for updating information during service change. To do this, the council needed one reliable source of information that everyone could use.
Solution
To achieve this, Falkirk Council use our Digital Depot solution to help them design and run their waste management service. Round design and service change is planned using the route optimisation application, while real-time round management is performed with Collections, the round management component. Falkirk also use our In-Cab to share information with their drivers and let them report issues during the day.
Online calendars are also available on the council’s public website. By creating these from Collections, the council can be sure that the information is accurate and up- to-date. When a resident finds their address using the property search, they are presented with a page showing when their next collection is due for each stream, alongside a calendar showing what gets collected on each day.
Round information from Collections is also shared with MyFalkirk, the council’s citizen account management system, allowing the council to send a message showing day changes and the new collection calendar to the thousands of citizens using the MyFalkirk app.
Benefits
Fewer missed bin calls
Falkirk are very pleased with the results they achieved. Missed bin calls have come down by 20% on an average week, as more accurate collection information on their website has helped residents present the correct bins for collection.
Staff time saved
The time and effort saved during any service change has also been considerable. In the past, a major service change and the public information update was generally planned over 3 to 6 months. It now takes just 4 weeks from beat design to the start of the changed service, with online calendars being updated prior to commencement.
Successful channel shift
The council has also seen fewer calls to the contact centre as would be callers check online or through their app. Calls related to collection dates are down 15%. And as well as providing information to citizens, the calendars are also being used by colleagues in the contact centre, so they are better informed when responding to callers about calendar enquiries or reports of missed bins.
More accurate data
Having online calendars created using Collections rather than from spreadsheets has also helped reduce the time taken by staff to collate the information. The accuracy of data has also improved as the human errors that occur during re-keying have been removed.
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.
