Wirral Garden Waste Subscription Service

146,118 households 111,500 with a brown garden waste bin / 95,000 typical garden properties 240 litre brown wheeled bin (limit of one per house) Fortnightly collections (4 Week Xmas shut down) Operating for 10 years, growing from 3000t to 19,000t collected pa 12/13 - Recycling performance : 40.5% (15.3% garden waste) Background

2012 – Budget deficit (£109 million over 3 years equating to £746 per household) Corporate Priority to protect the most vulnerable Cabinet requested a range of 13/14 “officer budget options” Summer 2012 Borough wide public consultation “What Really Matters” launched Autumn 2012 Final budget options decided March 2013 Why and How (1) ?

Garden Waste Subscription Service Budget Option savings £1.151M over 3 years Residents consulted generally on charging for services and specifically on garden waste budget option Consultation Results Why and How (2) ?

Common comments/concerns documented during consultation: Expectation of excessive fly tipping Increased landfill costs due to displacement to residual bin Support from households without gardens Some households concerned about affordability – a back door council tax increase Cabinet took into account the responses and survey results and: Offered a £5 discount for online sign up Promoted “sharing of brown bins with neighbours” Promoted free alternatives (HWRC’s) Provided a home composting budget (Y1: £25K, Y2: £50K, Y3: onwards£20K ) Why and How (3) ?

IT support critical –first meeting held 6 months prior to Cabinet decision to develop CRM customer service requests and test system Online payment option set up Explored Direct Debit option – not enough time to procure and set up Notification of cessation of free service: Leaflet to all garden waste properties sent March/April Collection crews stickered brown bins over 2 collection cycles March/April Web info with FAQ’s, home page link at all times. Temporary Commercial Manager appointed (2 years fixed term) Additional call centre staff recruited and trained Opened for payments WB 14th April 2013 No Side Waste/ Lid down on residual bin (plus bin audit) being enforced by crews Mobilisation (1)

Late sign ups - Expectation to receive the service straight away Some residents not putting permits on the bins – In Cab PDA Anticipated media and political interest (MP/ward councillor/ opposition leader, local radio) Enquiries and complaints: Petition (130 signatories) to remove the charge Challenges to £5 online discount not available to all (pensioners) Residents wanting a free bin because they collect up “council leaves” Refund requests from residents who thought garden waste was banned from residual bin (None given refund policy in place). Initial Issues (1)

High customer expectation now they are paying In-cab PDA’s upgrade to cope with property level data Outsourced waste collection service - lack of control over operational decisions Crew motivation/buy in - reduction in crews High number of missed bins reported Free service offered in year 2 to small number due to excessive number of missed collections in first three months Initial Issues (2)

The Service (1) First three years: £35 (£30) online per year for one bin to be collected £20 per additional bin – no limit on number £37 charge for new bins Third year bins were free to encourage new subscribers and increase the number of additional bins

The Service (2) Subscriber Numbers (115,500 households)

Garden Waste Tonnage Comparison between HWRC’s and Kerbside Collections

Residual Waste Tonnage HWRC’s & Kerbside Collections Residual Waste Tonnage HWRC’s & Kerbside Collections

Recycling Rate Yearly Comparison (NI 192) Recycling Rate Yearly Comparison (NI 192)

Garden Waste Fly Tip Incidents

Compost Bin Sales

Service Review Commercial Manager post made permanent in May 2016 Payment options reviewed: Direct Debit/Automatic telephone/PayPoint Original budget option re-visited Autumn 2016 Deficit each year: number collection crews higher than planned free bins = no income in year three increased costs for disposal Increase to £40 (£35) online this year with no increase in charge for additional bins

What Next ? Targeted marketing: non renewals – end of June/beginning July new housing estates areas with gardens where up take is low Social media

Critical Issues Learnt Full time role Running a commercial business in a public sector environment – not easy! Refund policy – stick to it! Online reduction – equality issue IT system needs to be robust – taking payments and registering subscription Intensive at re-registration stage – consider rolling subscriptions. IT/payment system to support this? High expectations from residents – difficult to meet due to contractual arrangements with waste collection company Councillor expectations Missed bin numbers could increase – less to bins to collect/ miss out smaller roads/presentation points. Returns policy with contractor DON’T DO IT!!

Contact Information Di Bradbury, Commercial Manager Direct line : address :