Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council NERF September 2012 Garden Waste Collection Service Paul Jones Head of Waste and Fleet Management

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council Presentation Outline Background & context Service review & design Implementation Customer care challenges Initial performance Key results to date Conclusions & key issues

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council Background Local Government Review 2009 Harmonisation of service standards & charges Significant savings targets Improve service performance Discretionary services – self financing PFI Contract implementation – HWRC upgrades

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council Service Review Diverse standards, charges and operations Charges from free ‘opt out’ to £32/bin/year Geographic coverage variable Containers – 240 litre wheeled bins, biodegradable sacks, re-useable sacks Service frequency & duration – fortnightly 12 months; fortnightly 9 months and then monthly, fortnightly 9 months then winter stop Collection costs £400K, income £170K therefore - net cost = £230K Free service – not an option!

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council Implementation Fortnightly scheme 9 months – stop over winter Use 240 wheeled bins, gradual phasing out of biobags and reuseable sacks Charge of £20/bin/season – not limited per house Maintain geographic coverage – extend if possible! Phased implementation –SE & North - April 2009 –West - May/June 2009

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council Customer care challenges –Notification to service users –Introduction of clear, cost effective and reliable payment arrangements –Means of identifying ‘paid’ customers (bin stickers) –Robust administration – front & back office – single central data source linked to LLPG –Arrangements for recovery and delivery of bins –Ability to check collection days – self service –Improve geographic accessibility of service –Ease of checking eligibility for service – as not provided countywide

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council Initial Performance Significant and sustained adverse media coverage ~34% uptake in what had been a ‘free area’ Overall users dropped from 24,000 to 15,000 60% paid by cheque in the first year (10,000) – no online facility Delays in processing customer payments Savings targets achieved - £270K - exceeded target by £23K Reduction in collected green waste Increase in HWRC inputs No increase in residual tonnage Marginal (0.27%) drop in overall household waste composting rate compared to previous year 12.17% in 2008/9 to 11.9% in 2009/10

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council Key Results to Date Service uptake growing from 14,700 to 20,000 + Coverage extended Financially sustainable (and income continues to grow) Modest charge increase Transactional web & rewards Customer satisfaction increased from initial 34% to current 60% - (the rest don’t like paying) And……

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council Yields per bin increased from 390Kg to 506Kg If you are paying you make sure you get your money’s worth!

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council Some migration into HWRCs

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council Household Waste Composting Rate Initial dip, followed by gradual increase in overall composting rate to current 13.5%

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council Total Household Waste Total Household waste arisings falling No increase in disposal of garden waste in general household bins

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council Significant ‘channel shift’ from 60% cheques to 28%

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council Conclusions & Key Issues Actively manage PR Administration arrangements must be robust Customers expect a better service when paying directly for it! Single database linked to LLPG Encourage self-service payment – avoid cheques. Crews must be able to readily identify paying customers Collection, washing & storage arrangements for bins Expect significant drop-off in % of users if stopping free service Expect higher ‘yield’ per bin Impact on routes/vehicles/staffing levels Consider other policies – side waste, bulk collections Provide customers with choices (1.2.3 leaflet) Expect increase uptake at HWRCs and modest temporary impact on overall compost rate.

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council Thank you Paul Jones Head of Waste and Fleet Management