Key Points
- Supporting the introduction of a new shift pattern and an enhanced recycling service.
- Now getting less than half of the calls that previously used to come through to the waste team.
- Saving an estimated 5 to 6 hours a day spent working on garden waste subscriptions.
Background
In 2017, Richmondshire, a district council in North Yorkshire, introduced an enhanced recycling service and a new shift pattern for their teams. The council increased their kerbside collection service from three streams to five streams and also changed their rounds so that crews worked longer shifts over fewer days.
To help manage this change and to increase efficiency, Richmondshire chose Digital Depot, our integrated waste management solution, which includes In-Cab units in their 11 refuse collection vehicles, a digital back office and route optimisation module.
Gaining real-time information
In the contact centre, the customer service team are now able to use information from the system to check collection days or services when talking to residents, and also use information from the In-Cab to challenge callers reporting a missed bin if the driver has reported that
their bin was not presented.
This process shuts down a lot of complaints and has reduced the number of calls that are passed on to the depot: “We’re getting less than half of the calls we used to coming through to the waste team now.”
In the depot, the team can manage their rounds more effectively, making day-to-day changes such as adding assisted collections or additional bins at a property.
These changes are then updated immediately on the In-Cab unit in the vehicle. Staff at Richmondshire have described the system as, “really easy and user-friendly, even for those colleagues who usually struggle with this kind of thing”.
Improving efficiency with In-Cab
Richmondshire have In-Cab units in each of their waste collection vehicles. As well as feeding real-time issues to the contact centre and the depot, the system is also helping drivers and crews to improve their efficiency, performance and safety.
For example, “drivers love the ‘What’s New’ feature”, which highlights recent changes on the round to driver and reduces the chance that something new will be missed. Furthermore, the number of missed bin return visits has reduced as drivers no longer need to go back for any missed bin claims where a reason for non-collection has been logged (e.g. bin not out).
The system can also generate reports on issues like damaged bins, so that these can be fed more efficiently through to the bin service teams.
Automation for Chargeable Garden
To support the online subscription process for their garden waste service, Digital Depot has been integrated with Richmondshire’s website forms. After the customer completes the online form and has their payment taken, the back office system is automatically updated with the customer’s information, such as the number of bins and the service end date.
This information is immediately available to drivers on the vehicle’s In-Cab system. The benefits of the solution for the depot team have been “tremendous”, with an estimated 5 or 6 hours a day working on garden waste now reduced to almost nothing.
Making savings with optimisation
During their service redesign, Richmondshire used our route optimisation software to redesign their rounds. This allowed the council to lose a vehicle from their fleet and “make the savings we wanted”.
With the new service in place and no more major changes planned, the team will look to tweak rounds over time to maintain performance and build in capacity for new properties ahead of time.
As rounds change they are automatically transferred to the back office and In-Cab systems, which ensures that drivers always have the correct rounds on their units and reduces work for the depot team.
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.
