IT & SOFTWARE
Surrey Heath Borough Council has become one of the top recycling authorities in the UK after tapping into Ordnance Survey data to adapt its waste collection route
Government and Ordnance Survey that enables public sector organisa- tions like local authorities to access centrally-funded geographical datasets to plan services.
L
The main purpose of the agreement is to promote more effective joint working between public bodies, and since its launch nearly a year ago a number of councils have benefited from access to this valuable resource. Almost every public sector organisa- tion in England and Wales, regardless of size, can tap into the dataset to plan services and drive up efficiencies. Surrey Heath Borough Council is one local authority that has seen a remark- able improvement in its recycling ser- vice after using the online dataset. While the local authority used Ordnance Survey data before the agree- ment was
launched, its success in
doubling the recycling rate illustrates what other councils could achieve by using this resource in the future. Back in 2009, Surrey Heath BC need- ed to renew and modernise its waste collection contract; a decision was made to move from weekly black sack collections to a fortnightly alternat- ing wheelie bin collection. The new service meant that most residents in the borough would receive a grey waste
The GIS component of the project was critical to us being able to plan and implement the new collection systems
“ 16 Local Authority Waste & Recycling March 2012 ”
aunched last April, the Public Sector Mapping Agreement (see page 6) is a 10-year agree- ment between the
Mapping waste efficiencies
wheelie bin, a green recycling wheelie bin and an indoor and outdoor food caddy. Surrey Heath BC then rolled out a weekly food waste collection while waste and recycling was collected on alternate weeks.
To create minimum disruption and avoid collection day charges, the local authority used oblique aerial photo- graphs to look at the frontages of build- ings so that officers could make initial assessments about the suitability of wheelie bins in certain locations.
Waste collection points In doing this, the council made an initial cost saving as officers didn’t have to make costly and numerous inspections on foot to map out where wheelie bins could be placed. The next step involved generating an ini- tial “waste collection points” data- set by tapping into the Local Land and Property Gazetteer. Officers also mapped against Ordnance Survey data to create a clear visual image of the current contract areas. The dataset contains over 35,000 waste collection points and is used across the borough. As part of the move from black bags to wheelie bins, Biffa, the contractor for Surrey Heath BC, provided a new fleet of collection vehicles. In addi- tion, local authority officers used the geographical information system (GIS) and mapping system to calculate the crew allocations.
Due to the low level of financial resources available, the aid of the GIS and Ordnance Survey mapping data was vital
in ensuring the contract- build up and switch to wheelie bins ran smoothly and was instrumental in driving up recycling collection rates. Since the new collection service’s start up in 2009, the council has become one of the UK’s top recyclers; its collection rate moved from 32% at its inception to 64% in only one year. Another benefit is that contract centre staff can now answer enquiries using waste collection points data. The data also supports its “My Surrey Heath” – enabling residents to self-serve waste collection information from the internet without having to contact the borough.
Recognition of the service’s transfor- mation has been acknowledged nation- ally; Surrey Heath BC’s recycling and waste collection achievements led to it winning the local authority tar- get success category at the National Recycling Awards in July 2011. Chas Bradfield, deputy chief execu- tive, said: “The GIS component of the project was critical to us being able to plan and implement the new col- lection systems and to field customer enquires during the initial stages of implementation. It enabled a very effi- cient use of staff time.”
www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/psma
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56