Let's do business waste case studies

Bromsgrove District Council has operated a commercial waste service in its current form since 2008. Initially this service collected residual waste only. However in the early years BDC experienced some service issues, and the future of the commercial arm was in doubt.

Prior to 2008 the commercial service was being wound down, potentially to be sold to the private sector. At the eleventh hour BDC made the strategic decision to continue the commercial waste service with a fresh approach and gave freedom to the service team to market and develop the services in new and innovative ways. This included choosing to act more like a private sector business. Following this change in approach the service has grown and expanded into additional areas, both geographically and through the provision of recycling services.  

Early Service Issues

Initially commercial services targeted residual waste collections only, using one dedicated vehicle. When this vehicle was unavailable e.g. due to planned maintenance, this led to service disruptions. The communication with customers at times of disruption were mixed, which likely contributed to factors such as lower customer retention and satisfaction with the services. 

As a result, the commercial business was not generating enough revenue to cover its costs. The choices were to wind the service down, or to continue the service using a fresh approach.

BDC made the strategic decision to continue the commercial waste service, this included giving freedom to the service team to approach service delivery in a new way.

Initial Service Development

This new found freedom allowed the service team to test their approach and understand what businesses would respond well to. It was understood that a key benefit of local council services is the extensive local knowledge and geographic focus, and therefore a personal service was developed that prioritised visits to customers. Initially these visits were conducted in a smart formal manner, then an operational style, but it was a relaxed approach that was most well received, and this continues to this day.

From 2017 collection services for commercial recycling were developed. This included bringing in a refurbished vehicle to provide recycling services and support general service delivery.

Brand and Marketing

Being in competition with other service providers, it is important that the services stand out, and BDC achieved this with bold branding of their services, vehicles, and containers:

Figure 2: Bromsgrove District Council - Commercial Waste Services Brand

This brand is backed up by strong marketing, including press releases and a social media presence and the provision of support to businesses, in addition to introductory offers.

Figure 3 shows an extract of a promotional video produced with Kai Owen of Worcester Warriors. Communications of this type reach a wide audience and promote service delivery together with a broader environmental message.

Figure 3: Promotional Social Media Activity for Worcester Warriors

The commercial team also supported businesses as they re-opened following restrictions imposed during the Covid pandemic. BDC were able to flex service delivery and retain staff by reallocating them onto the domestic services in the height of the pandemic, and then back to commercial waste services as businesses reopened. Communications issued as restrictions on businesses were eased made it clear how businesses could be supported and took the opportunity to reinforce businesses responsibility under duty of care and promote the full range of commercial waste services.

Focussed campaigns are also run to target increased take up in recycling services. In 2022, BDC ran a campaign that ran up to Earth Day and encouraged new or existing customers to sign up to recycling services for the first time, through the offer of two months of free recycling collections. 

Ongoing Service Development

The services continue to be developed. Weighing equipment is planned that will be fitted to the operational vehicles. Initially BDC will be looking to support their customers to reduce their waste, however pay by weight could be brought in at a later date.

A food waste trial is coming, this will allow BDC to support businesses to comply with the requirements of Simpler Recycling. BDC are also keen to partner with others to expand the range of services and materials that they collect.

BDC work in partnership with other local council providers, and actively compete with the private sector. This results in them providing services outside of the boundary of their administrative area in some cases.

Although commercially focussed the services are provided by a public sector body. The rigidity of the governance structure contributes to the feeling of trust generated by the service but may at times constrain the pace of change, or place external limits on the services e.g. in relation to advertising, marketing, and communication. If constraints are being experienced these are certainly being overcome, with the services continuing to grow and expand.

In recent years, Chichester District Council (CDC) have doubled the revenue generated by their commercial waste services.

This has been through a targeted customer engagement programme to understand the needs of the businesses in their area, and backed up by increases in the range of services delivered, and a focus on the commercial needs of the services.

CDC provide commercial waste services within their own boundary and extend into neighbouring councils through partnership working in the region, including the delivery of county wide services.

Pricing is fair and transparent which reflects the quality of service provided. CDC acknowledge the benefits of working closely with key accounts and strive to develop, enhance, and maintain top-level business relationships.  CDC have various pricing tools available when reviewing key accounts and pricing for larger tender bids.

Customer engagement

Existing customers might have previously expected annual contact from CDC with the provision of their Duty of Care documentation. Communication was therefore not proactive in nature and any opportunities to provide additional services, that might further meet the needs of the business, were lost.

To resolve this, CDC moved to a key account management process, with customer segmentation, backed up by a contact management system. 

This allowed the clear identification of customers by service need, from those whose needs are met with regular collections, to  those with complex needs, for example requiring multi-material collections or who have to react to changes in demand on their services and therefore changes in their waste generation.

Businesses with complex needs receive more regular contact to ensure that the services are being provided as required, and to allow discussion relating to opportunities to enhance service delivery. Additional services provided to key accounts include recycling advice and support, event waste management, bin washing, waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE) and bulky item collections (small and large WEEE), battery and textile collections.

This customer-based approach has resulted in high customer retention rates.

Increased range of services

Food waste collections to households are currently being developed by CDC to ensure compliance with Simpler Recycling. Food waste collections to businesses have however been offered for over three years (receiving Cabinet approval in July 2019).

Food waste collections

The food waste collections were designed with this specialist waste stream in mind and included purpose-built food waste bins, designed to prevent leakage, and reduce odour related issues. Development of food waste collections identified an additional opportunity to provide bin cleaning services to businesses, with the potential to extend the service to residents

Bin cleaning services

The development of trade and domestic bin cleaning service received Cabinet approval in May 2020. This included approval to release reserves generated from commercial waste services and invest in a vehicle, fitted with bin cleaning equipment. The equipment cleans the bins internally with automatic cleaning heads and has a separate lance to allow cleaning of the outside of the bins. Excess water is captured and retained on the vehicle in tanks, allowing appropriate disposal at the depot.

A phased roll out of service has been planned with the team currently gaining experience with business waste customers before expansion to domestic properties. 

Self-catering properties

Self-catering properties can be a complex area, with individuals that let their own properties not recognising that waste generated during a letting is classified as commercial waste. Where self-catering properties are not operated solely as a business they will switch between generating household waste (when occupied by the owner) and commercial waste (when operated by a holiday maker).

CDC identified, and reached out to, self-catering properties being advertised in their area. These communications highlighted the need for appropriate collection systems to be in place, and offered a service that could ensure compliance. 

Skips and Roll on/ Roll off containers (ro-ros)

Although CDC target four-wheeled bin collections, they do provide collections from skips and roll-on/ roll-off containers (ro-ro) These collections are carried out by a third-party. This partnership works well with CDC being able to expand service delivery, and offer prompt skip and container exchange, while the third-party can increase throughput without the increased administration of client management.

Commercially led services

The services are operated in a commercial manner, with consideration of factors such as crew selection, bin weight management, debt management and growth,

Commercial waste crews

Commercial waste services require a crew with a particular focus on customer care. At times they may need to work with the customer to gain access to the containers for example, and this might require them to arrange for a car to be moved. Crews are therefore selected based on the requirements of commercial work.

On board weighing

On board weighing is fitted to vehicles to allow the weighing of commercial residual waste. This allows CDC to monitor the weight of bins, leading to tiered pricing. Heavier bins incur an additional charge but also act as an incentive to customers to increase recycling and reduce waste.

Debt management

Debt management is a critical element when operating services of this nature, with CDC having a gold star debt recovery process. Where customers become bad debtors they are moved in to a higher pricing band, and accounts may be suspended in the worst cases. Customers can be reconnected, with an administration charge being levied and a requirement to be moved to direct debit. Debt management is a two-way process, for example where customers demonstrate improved payment processes, they can be moved away from the higher price bracket or direct debit.

Growth

CDC monitor local competition and carry out market research to understand the needs of the businesses and the range of service providers that are available. This allows them to understand and develop their services in context to the local market.

They actively tender for opportunities and have secured a contract to provide collection services to schools, colleges, and universities across the county.

West Suffolk Council is already pioneering including in the world of recycling. It’s the first local council to trial reverse vending recycling machines through business and education partnerships to incentivise recycling across town centres and at a local college. 

This work ties in with council's drive for environmental resilience and to be carbon neutral by 2030. This year the council has invested an additional £2.75 million to top up its net zero fund to £11.75 million. This money supports further investment in council assets, including the leisure portfolio and the council's highly successful solar for business scheme. A new Environment and Sustainability action plan has been developed in the last year with councillors from across the council to deliver improvements by the council and support businesses and residents. This has included the establishment of a £1 million Decarbonisation Initiatives Fund.

Alongside this, the council is preparing for the Government’s new Simpler Recycling scheme. Supporting businesses to understand and comply with the scheme will be a challenge but it’s one that West Suffolk is preparing to deliver in line with its own strategic aim for sustainable growth and environmental resilience. The council is currently planning ahead for Simpler Recycling through the expansion of waste services to meet the additional demand as well as a package of business support through waste audits and continuous engagement over the year ahead.

Commercial waste services

The council’s commercial waste services began initially as a wheeled bin operation but have since expanded to include skips and roll-on/roll-off containers (ro-ros) This expanded range of containers is offered to businesses and targets single stream materials as well as residual waste. It does not compete with the domestic skips market which is well provided for by local companies. The council’s skip service forms part of a multi-stream offer to our local businesses and organisations. 

The recent development of a new depot has created space for expansion and a wide range of services, including a baling operation and fleet maintenance facilities. By delivering a broad range of services the council is able to spread its costs while also commercialising services such as offering MOT services. Recycling from the baling operation alone is generating around £100,000 a year in revenue toward council services

The council’s approach can be categorised as dynamic. The commercial waste services operate under their own cost centre to ensure that financial performance can be optimised. The council is a trusted brand and, the service builds on the trust while operating with the flexibility of a commercial businesses to meet the needs of our customers. Ultimately the services are publicly accountable and governed by elected members, and it is this accountability coupled with the long-term stability of local councils in general that engenders trust in service delivery.

Supporting businesses

A general constraint for businesses is known to be limited space, and this equally applies to the businesses of West Suffolk. Service design seeks to overcome this constraint by providing flexible services, for example at higher frequency or on demand. 

In particular where waste might be stored or presented on the street, it may lead to a less pleasant and attractive street scene. West Suffolk is keen to support businesses in the appropriate management of their waste.

Partnership working

West Suffolk also works in partnership with national waste management and facilities companies, typically to assist them in providing national coverage, but also to provide services to local businesses with specific needs. This means a wider range of cost effective collection patterns can be offered.

Further partnerships have been developed with public sector organisations including hospitals and schools, building relationships so that the council can provide other support. For example when the hospital, a long-standing commercial waste customer of the council, needed car parking support for their staff, West Suffolk Council was able to help.

West Suffolk also work in partnership with neighbouring councils to deliver commercial waste services. Partnership working and clear communication channels ensure that the councils are not in direct competition with each other. This method of working is based on the principles of providing a more comprehensive service to businesses, resilience to operational delivery, and the development of more efficient routes. These principles recognise that any council has limits in its own capacity, and working collaboratively can seek to improve service delivery for partners and service users.

Building Understanding of the deposit return scheme

West Suffolk Council is working with a range of local partners and a company called Trovr to trial a rewards based system aimed at increasing recycling and reducing litter. Trovr uses a smartphone app, that is coupled with a network of reverse vending machines to reward residents when they return packaging for recycling. This is a trial that will help to inform the expected behaviours of residents and build their understanding for when a national deposit return scheme (DRS) for drinks containers is launched. From the businesses perspective, the trial is expected to support them through increased footfall, whilst reinforcing the importance of sustainability.

Westminster City Council (WCC) covers an area of 21.47 square kilometres and is an entirely urban population. There are over 45,000 businesses in Westminster, many of these operate out of offices, which is over 20,000 more than any other borough in London, also within Westminster’s area there are approximately 7,000 shops. WCC works in partnership with Veolia to offer their commercial waste collections and collects 195,000 tonnes of waste annually. 

Figure 1: Westminster City Council - eRCV

The council has a 90-strong fleet of new electric collection vehicles (e-RCVs), see figure 1 from Westminster City Council. Each of Westminster’s new e-RCVs came from Dennis Eagle and cost around £450,000 each. In addition Westminster operate e-trikes. These cost around £10,000 each. The electric collection fleet is powered by electricity generated from Westminster City Council’s residual waste. 

• hotels
• hospitality
• educational establishments 
• offices
• small businesses
• facility management
• events
• institutes
• retail.

The website has links to leaflets for each of the categories above and case studies of current customers. Large customers include Royal Albert Hall, Tate Britian, Chanel, Primark, The Ritz London, Westminster Abbey, and Central Hall. 

Additionally, guidance is provided to support customers. This can be in the form of how-to guides e.g. using food waste containers, or provide broader engagement on key topics, for example a guide to the circular economy.

Guidance is provided on selecting a contractor and recommends the consideration of factors such as the flexibility of any prospective contractor in terms of contracting arrangements and the ability to respond to ad-hoc demands. All guidance is provided to support customers (existing and prospective) and includes links to where additional information may be available, together with contact information for the commercial waste team.

Claridge’s Hotel Customer Case Study 

The services provided by Westminster City Council are provided in direct response to customer need, with key account management support where appropriate. This can be seen in the approach to service delivery at Claridge’s Hotel:

The waste collected from the hotel, generates almost 2,400,000 kWh of annually, which helps power the electric collection fleet. Additionally, nearly 400 tonnes of CO₂ are saved per year.

The Heart of London Business Improvement District (BID) Case Study

Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) are business led partnerships elected by local businesses to deliver additional services to benefit all. They promote business involvement in local activities and The Heart of London Business Alliance serves as a voice for 500 businesses and 100 property owners in the Piccadilly, St James’s, and Leicester Square areas in the West End. 

The BID has two objectives, the first to deliver benefits to the sustainability programmes of member businesses and the second, to offer a competitive money-saving service to every member of the BID. The preferred supplier for commercial waste management with Heart of London is Westminster City Council. Benefits to the BID members of using WCC as their waste collected include: 

• Fewer collection vehicles result in lower emissions, thus creating a cleaner environment. 
• Exclusive offers as part of Hearth of London collection rates. 
• Members can arrange bespoke business and property audits where recommendations for increasing recycling, reducing overall waste, and saving money can be made. 
• Practical off-street waste collections improve street appearance.

The Comedy Pub and The Comedy Store

Overall, the BID has a 77 per cent recycling rate, with the composition being 33 per cent glass, 39 per cent food, 5 per cent card and the remaining 23 per cent of their residual waste is collected and sent for local energy recovery. 

The Comedy Pub is a member of Heart of London and switched to WCC as their waste provider when the BID service began, as a result they have moved from a low performing mixed recycling approach to a segregated recycling arrangement which produced high-quality recycling at reduced costs. 

The Comedy Store is a comedy venue with over 3,500 people visiting every week. Prior to the Comedy Store and The Comedy Pub moving to the waste services offered by WCC there were 10 truck movements per day on the street and three different suppliers. Now there are 4 truck movements, and The Comedy Store has made a financial saving of over 30  per cent in switching. 

First Mile

First Mile launched in 2004 with the aim of revolutionizing business sustainability starting with waste and recycling. They offer general waste collections using ultra-low emission vehicles, and currently serve over 30,000 UK businesses with zero-to-landfill collections and offer over 25 other recycling collection services collecting 65,000 tonnes of waste annually. First Mile offer popular waste streams as well as specialist waste steams which includes coffee grounds, textiles, plastic kegs, and cooking oil. 

First Mile introduced the use of cargo bikes to their collection services which led to the avoidance of 50.7T CO2 or equivalents in combined scope one and two emissions, which is equivalent to reducing emissions intensity by 0.7kg CO2 or equivalents per tonne of waste collected. They also reduced emissions by improving customer density and routes.  

In 2022 First Mile avoided 281.7 tonnes of carbon emissions due to the use of electric cargo bikes and vehicles making more efficient routes. First Mile also claim to offset any carbon emissions that are unable to be eliminated via carbon capture projects and in 2022, for every £1 spent by customers they avoided 2kg of CO2 emissions.

FoodSave

London’s high streets are home to over 200,000 businesses, which host nearly 1.5 million jobs (28 per cent of all jobs in the city).

Food businesses, such as restaurants, hotels, pubs, and canteens often have surplus food left over at the end of the day. FoodSave is a project that offers free support to small and medium food businesses in London to help them address the issue of food waste.

The project follows the Food Waste Pyramid. The primary aim is to help businesses reduce their food waste, then any surplus food can feed people in need. In cases where the food is unfit for human consumption, it can be used for livestock where possible. For the remaining food waste, FoodSave encourages businesses to get it collected for composting or to generate energy, ensuring the food waste does not end up in landfill.

FoodSave has supported over 200 organisations in London. Between November 2013 and March 2015 the project:

• diverted over 1,000 tonnes of food waste from being sent to landfill a year
• prevented over 150 tonnes of food waste a year
• saved participating businesses £550,000 a year.

ReLondon

The project was funded by the European Development Fund, ReLondon, and the Mayor of London. Helped by the project, many food businesses in Borough Market now make surplus food left over at the end of the day available to local charities that help vulnerable people eat well.

ReLondon is a grants programme designed to provide small and medium businesses (fewer than 250 employees) with the information needed for them to incorporate circularity into their business.

Businesses in the following categories are eligible:

• food and drink, for example pubs, cafes, takeaways, delis
• retail, for example shops selling clothes, electricals, food
• hair and beauty, for example hairdressers, barbers, nail salons
• high street services e.g. dry cleaners, opticians, pharmacies.

These businesses will have the chance to apply for a grant of £5,000-£10,000 to bring their ideas of how to make themselves more sustainable to life. Applications open in February 2024, and there are grants available for up to 20 businesses.

ReLondon grants programme is designed to provide businesses with the information they need to benefit their business and the environment through ways of working. ReLondon offers free workshops to help businesses: 

• discover ideas for reducing waste, cutting costs, and creating new money-making products and services by using stuff wisely
• learn which kind of ideas that can be funded with a grant and how they apply to your business
• receive a circular economy plan with bespoke recommendations for the business that you can use even without a grant.