Montgomery County Division of Solid Waste Services COG Recycling Committee September 19, 2007 On-Line Annual Recycling Report Filing

Brief Statistics Executive Regulation (ER) 15-04AM Approx. 35,000 businesses Large Businesses (250+ employees) Medium Businesses ( employees) Small Businesses (<100 employees) upon request and annually thereafter Property Owners of Multi-Tenant Facilities

Annual Recycling Report

Why Go Electronic? Reduce paper use and mailing costs to send out report forms Increase efficiency of staff Improve response time to businesses Ability to give businesses historical view of their reporting history – beneficial with staff turnover at businesses Automatic s generated to remind businesses to file

The Planning Process Program Manager Oversees Development DSWS IT Staff Creates Web Interface DSWS Employees Test On-Line Report Business Volunteers Test On-Line Report DTS Staff Create Database DTS Staff Placement on County Server

Annual Report Goes Live

History of On-Line Reporting 2001 –Decision to go electronic; many, many meetings, discussions and practice –First on-line version of annual business recycling report made available 2002 –Many lessons learned; major revamp –Minor modifications implemented 2007 & Beyond –Development of comprehensive database (RIU, NR, MF) to include annual report information –Create multi-family on-line annual recycling report

First Year Frustrations “The Learning Curve” for both County staff and filers No ability for businesses to make revisions Once a businesses filed, no changes could be made by DSWS Similar types of data had to be re-entered numerous times

Second/Third Year Headaches Server issues Filers entering multiple entries for the same business Staff turnover resulting in additional accounts being created for the same business Numerous requests for forgotten username and password an administrative burden

Media Campaign

When a Business Logs On…

Recycling Information

Trash Information

Report Waste Reduction/Reuse and Educational Efforts

Make It Official-Submit Report Reminders

Annual Report Information Inputted

Business’ Recycling History

Administrative Function

The Admin Side

Review and Approve Data

Lessons Learned Improvements are always identified once the process starts Document all frustrations, issues and concerns Start the planning process with DTS/IT staff as early as possible Have contact information of IT staff available for emergencies Test, Test, Test and Test Again….Use “partner” businesses to test ease and use

The Benefits All reminders for filing are sent via ; no need to use paper and postage History of business is available to the filer to compare information to previous years Documentation of reports filed are automatically sent to the filer as confirmation of report received Reports are approved electronically and an notification is sent to filer Promotes DSWS’ policy and commitment to reduce waste

The Results? More Businesses are Filing On-Line

Questions? Montgomery County Department of Public Works and Transportation Division of Solid Waste Services 101 Monroe Street, 6 th Floor Rockville, MD (240) phone; (240) fax Website: