Key Points
- Remodelling of street cleansing services to implement a neighbourhood-based approach.
- Reduction of 12 vehicles and a 60% cut in CO2 emissions.
- Cleanliness ratings up from 94% to 97%
- Reduction of 21% in complaints about missed street cleansing.
- Winners of the Keep Britain Tidy Outstanding Service Delivery’ award.
Background
As an inner London borough, close to the heart of the city, Islington Council has some obvious challenges with street cleanliness and air quality. Yet, despite massive government cuts to their core funding, and continuing population growth, the council continues to progress towards their ambition to make Islington fairer and to create a place where everyone can enjoy a good quality of life.
To help make Islington ‘a welcoming and attractive borough’ and create ‘a healthier environment for all’, the Place and Environment team committed to remodel their street cleansing services to improve performance and reduce emissions. To do this, they implemented a neighbourhood principle to street cleansing services and redesigned rounds to ensure a cleansing visit after every refuse collection.
How we helped
Islington used Webaspx to help them remodel their street cleansing service. Using our market-leading route optimisation software for street cleansing, our consultants were able to first review the council’s current service and robustly compare this to different options.
This phase helped the council to understand – with a high degree of accuracy and confidence, but in a short space of time – what sort of benefits potential changes may deliver.
Once the council had decided which options to pursue, Webaspx designed a new set of schedules to mobilise their neighbourhood-based service. The new system that Islington introduced saw 86 sweepers each assigned to their own beat. The team moved from a 3 day-a-week litterpick of all roads to five day-a-week sweep.
Operatives beats were designed so residents became familiar with cleansing staff and operatives could take ownership for the cleanliness of their areas. Street sweeping schedules were completely redesigned to allow operatives to visit streets on their beat shortly after waste and recycling had been collected, so that they could deal with any material that has been left behind.
Benefits
The redesigned service uses 12 fewer vehicles than before. Replacing these vehicles with barrows has cut down on pollution, reducing the CO2 emissions of the street cleaning service by over 60%.
While using fewer vehicles, the council has actually increased performance. Main roads continue to be deep-cleaned every day and since the introduction of the new model the council has recorded noticeable improvements in the borough’s cleanliness, with ratings in the top 3 grades (A or B+ or B) increasing from 94% to 97%.
Since the new service began, there has been a 21% reduction in complaints about missed streets and “many people have got to know their beat sweeper and have taken the time to contact us and give praise and good feedback.”
Independent survey data from Keep Britain Tidy has also shown comparable improvements for related performance indicators such as litter, detritus, graffiti and fly-posting. Average monthly reports about dog-fouling have fallen by 66% and fly-posting reports by 35%, with the survey suggesting that Islington’s streets are at their cleanest for over 10 years.
To cap it all off, Islington Council has won the prestigious Keep Britain Tidy ‘Outstanding Service Delivery’ award for the innovative transformation of their street cleansing service and has also been shortlisted for a number of other service awards.
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.
