Our pandemic heroes

With people asked to stay at home, the closure of shops and businesses and NHS services under huge pressure, our sector played a crucial role. Collection operatives were on the front line themselves – keeping household waste services going is a cornerstone of public health.

With a reduction in the workforce due to illness or quarantine, local authorities and waste businesses faced their own serious logistical problems. And not only were service levels by-and-large maintained, but employees also rolled up their sleeves and pitched in to help out the community at large.

This included bringing meals to NHS workers, providing transport to vulnerable people, manufacturing PPE and raising money for good causes.

The MRW National Recycling Awards 2020, which are being held as a virtual event on 27 January 2021, will recognise these efforts through the Editor’s Award. We asked for your lockdown stories and we were amazed by the entries.

That a winner will be announced on the day is not really the point here: this is to celebrate the sector in its entirety and tell the world what has been achieved.

Here, we present the entries we received – there will be many more examples up and down the country. MRW gives its thanks and congratulations to everybody.

Biffa

As a national operator, Biffa had to get to grips with irregular customer waste collections, particularly from extremely busy supermarkets.

An example is the John Lewis Part­nership (JLP), whose Waitrose super­markets were “extremely busy”, which led to a sharp rise in waste that stores were unused to managing. Biffa rede­ployed staff to help, and they put in overtime to ensure waste collection remained consistent. This took pressure off Waitrose staff who were organising essential deliveries.

Inside a week, Biffa set up contracts for the Nightingale hospitals – which were to cope with a possible flooding of Covid-19 patients – organising two to three collections a day.

Portsmouth crews encouraged locals to donate essentials which they took to the Ports­mouth Foodbank. They were challenged to fill one 240-litre bin – in two weeks they filled 18.

• Sam Hanson, project manager at the Portsmouth Foodbank, said: “We were blown away by the kindness and dedication of [Biffa] employees in collecting an enormous amount of food for us at Portsmouth Foodbank.

“We feel these kind people deserve recognition for the work they did to help us when we so desperately needed it. We were moved to tears by their gen­erosity and compassion for those impacted by poverty during this time – it shows that there are still many good-natured people left in society, and it is all thanks to this dedi­cated group of people.”

Bracknell Forest Council, Suez Recycling And Recovery UK and Continental Landscapes

Suez carries out domestic waste collections for more than 50,000 households for Bracknell Forest Council. In March, a large number of waste collection staff had to self-isolate and shield, significantly reducing the number of people available to carry out collections. As a result, garden waste collections had to be suspended in order to focus on other services.

The council’s street cleansing and grounds maintenance contractor Conti­nental Landscapes was approached for help. It was able to lend staff who could assist with waste collec­tions, and ensured there were enough staff to reinstate the garden waste col­lection service, meaning it was only suspended for two weeks.

This partnership continued through­out April, May and June to provide cover for some staff categorised as clin­ically vulnerable.

There was minimal disruption to waste collection services during a time of uncertainty and increased volumes of waste, due to a larger number of residents being based at home. The community benefitted from having a relia­ble service, and it demonstrated the resilience of council staff and contractors.

Suez and the council received many positive messages from resi­dents, including:

• “While in lockdown, if lucky enough to have a garden, it is somewhere to work and spend time. It is greatly appreciated that we are able to dispose of our garden waste sensibly. Many thanks to all who have made this possible. It means a lot.”
• “I truly hope that, when things do eventually get back to ‘normal’, the rest of society remembers the people who do the jobs that actually contribute to society and keep it going!”
• “I just wanted to say thank you to all our refuse collectors! Given the difficult times it is brilliant that they are still col­lecting our refuse.”

Keep Britain Tidy (KBT)

More people than ever took advantage of parks and green spaces during lock­down this March. But with this came a substantial increase in the volumes of litter and waste left in parks, exceeded anything councils have ever had to deal with before.

A survey by KBT found that councils were clearing an additional 57 tonnes of waste and each spending an average of £33,000 extra dealing with the issue. One respondent said: “I have officers with nearly 30 years of experience working in parks and they claim they have never known a period as bad as this.”

KBT worked to develop a ‘Love Parks’ campaign to tackle the problem using behavioural insights. This was launched nationally on 24 July as an in-situ intervention in eight parks and as a free digital cam­paign for councils and other organisa­tions. The launch was featured on BBC Breakfast and received extremely posi­tive feedback from councils and the public alike.

The campaign was funded as part of the Government’s coronavirus response. Its achievements include: campaign toolkit downloaded 1,278 times; 210 councils downloaded free digital assets; campaign web pages received 5,617 visits; #loveparks hash­tag used more than 8,800 times; social reach of 40 million; campaign featured on digital billboards across the country.

A survey revealed that 85% of respondents agreed that the campaign conveyed an important message, and lit­ter was reduced by up to 40% in parks which ran the campaign.

London Energy

On 23 March 2020, all six London Energy recycling and reuse centres closed to comply with the Gov­ernment guidelines for lockdown. This meant there were no disposal options for residents undertaking work at home or in the garden.

As restrictions relaxed, the decision was taken to reopen the centres in col­laboration with authorities. It was crit­ical that social distancing could be respected to guarantee the safety of the staff and public.

A number of initiatives were imple­mented, including:

• Limiting waste types allowed bins to be reorganised so that residents would not come into close contact. As lock­down eased, more waste types were introduced.
• An online booking system was introduced for visitors who can now book their slot up to 14 days in advance. The system was initially for vehi­cles but has been extended to cyclists and pedestrians.
• Additional staff were employed to manage enquiries and welcome resi­dents, making sure they had a booking and the right type of waste. This pre­vented long queues and issues with traf­fic around the sites.

Improved communication was also key. External communication was increased to make people aware of the new site rules. Sig­nage and other forms of commu­nication were increased on- and off-site to ensure visitors adhered to social distancing and site rules.

A survey of site visitors revealed 92.6% scored their on-site expe­rience at 7 out of 10 or higher, while 84.2% scored their experi­ence of the booking site 7 or higher. The online booking system proved to be a great suc­cess. Its ability to manage capacity and help plan resources means Lon­don Energy has decided to keep it for the foreseea­ble future.

Oxford Direct Services (ODS) and Oxford City Council

ODS, in partnership with its owner Oxford City Council, faced innumerable challenges: severe staff shortages, a city-wide scheme to deliver food to vulnera­ble residents, public and staff safety, and logistics. Failure to meet any one of these challenges would have meant a failure to deliver essential front line services.

The entire team was reshuffled to allow high-risk workers to be protected. Staff from other teams were drafted to support waste collections services. HGV drivers, in particular, were redeployed into high-priority roles, allowing front line services to continue. In total, more than 100 staff were redeployed.

ODS’s vehicle fleet was an essential asset to the city. Its 3.5-tonne box vans and their drivers, alongside other vehi­cles, were used to shuttle essential food and supplies to the city’s emergency hubs, seven days a week. This meant that vulnerable residents could be pro­tected throughout lockdown.

Without the support of each team member, collections would have ground to a halt. The team’s support, hard work and selflessness went above the call of duty. The fact that core services remained con­sistent and vul­nerable residents were protected is a testament to their dedication. The team played an essential role in raising awareness about Covid-19.

Pendle Food For All (PFFA)

PFFA is a voluntary organisation that takes surplus waste food from Fareshare and local supermarkets, and provides it to those in need at a low cost. It is not a food bank: members pay £3 a week and get to choose from a wide variety of fresh and tinned foods worth about £15.

Lockdown meant that members could no longer attend regular food clubs. This left two problems: what to do with the supply of surplus waste food and how to continue to feed those rely­ing on the service.

The solution was that PFFA adapted to become a delivery service. Its Face­book page was used to appeal for deliv­ery drivers and let PFFA members know that food would still be provided. There were furloughed people glad to help and referrals from Pendle Borough Council’s Covid Community Support Hub, so PFFA ended up helping increasing numbers of people.

From having a regular 45 members at its clubs each week, PFFA delivered to around 80 households in the council area every week, making sure they got fresh fruit and vegetables, dairy staples and non-refrigerated food. Some people said volunteers were the only people they had seen during lockdown, and welcomed that social interaction.

In 13 weeks, PFFA delivered more than 1,000 food boxes along with 1,745 donated Easter eggs.

Powerday

In March 2020, Powerday was desper­ate to do something to help London’s NHS and front line workers heroically working round the clock yet struggling to purchase food. Out of this desire to help came #PoweringtheNHS.

The company teamed up with London Irish Rugby Club, of which it is principal sponsor and owner, to deliver thousands of free meals to hospitals and hospices across the capital. Powerday encouraged cli­ents and other contacts to get involved.

Undercover Events donated food and catering products. Longstanding client Barratt London donated £10,000 towards buy­ing produce and covering the cost of the operations. Donations were also received from Novitas Partners, Kylemore, Eamon Lynam and the Brit­ish and Irish Trading Alliance.

By early June, Powerday and London Irish had delivered 50,000 meals to more than 15 hospitals and hospices, including North Middlesex Hospital, Charing Cross Hospital and Royal Surrey.

They were joined for this milestone by Prince Edward and his wife. They volunteered their time, helping with the labelling of food boxes and the preparation of meals, before delivering to Frimley Park Hospital – including the 50,000th meal of the campaign.

Messages of thanks poured in over social media, including:

• “Thanks for the delicious beef bur­rito. I demolished it at the end of my 12-hour Covid-ICU shift! From a very grateful ICU doc.”
• “Many thanks for providing wonderful food for the haematology and laboratory team at Epsom St Helier hospital.”
• “I don’t know how we will ever be able to show our appreciation for what you have done for us – all I can say is thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Presona

Baler and waste disposal equipment firm Presona did not stop when the coronavirus struck. It altered its service delivery to focused on customers’ urgent needs, with clientele including super­market chains and logistics companies.

Its mission was to support customers so that they could keep on supplying to the people of the UK and Republic of Ireland. If their equipment were to break down, then the whole process would slowly come to a halt. It was vital to keep going while protecting the team and customers from infection.

Presona split its engineering teams up to maintain social distancing, including some working from home and responding to urgent issues, while others remained at the office to support with parts and preparation for these urgent issues.

Vulnerable staff were immediately catered for and sent to work from home, where they received all the equipment needed to continue their work.

Without the support from the man­agement and the dedication of the team, things could have been very dif­ferent, and the company would not have been able to support the super­market chains through these tough times.

Re-Gen Waste

Throughout the pandemic, Re-Gen helped local charities and hospitals to keep going. In May it donated 50,000 pieces of PPE, at a value of £60,000, to key workers across the Southern Health and Social Care Trust.

Re-Gen’s demonstration of best practice in doing business was acknowledged by Waste Industry Safety and Health Northern Ireland.

From March, Re-Gen instigated: home working and up-skilling; arrivals were temperature tested and masks provided; lorry drivers were not permit­ted to exit their vehicles; biometric turnstyles and hands-free traffic light system installed; employees bussed to work; and an overflow marquee can­teen was provide.

Additional hand-washing, sanitising and toilet facilities were provided; staff on picking lines separated by Perspex screens, where minimum 2m distance could not be implemented. Anti-viral fog was applied to incoming waste material to ensure it was virus-free, as well as to offices, plant, lorry cabs and mobile equipment.

As a result of all this, there were no positive Covid-19 cases and no missed collections. Operations were expanded to supply paper to mills desperate for commercial material, including Huhta-maki NI, Saica, England and European mills.

Re-Gen also donated £10,000 to ensure that Cancer Fund for Children could keep its essential support going.

• Jim King, chair of WISH NI, said: “The waste industry is divided into three bits: those like Re-Gen, who are doing their best and trying hard, others who would like to do better and a third part that just do not care. So Re-Gen is setting the standards – it is leading the way.”

S2S Group

As many businesses in the IT asset dis­posal sector closed during the lockdown period, IT recycling expert S2S worked throughout to deliver essential technology to organisations, helping their key workers to work from home effectively and stay connected.

Many private and key worker busi­nesses had to quickly adapt to new ways of working. Remote working has played a big part in keeping Government ser­vices and private enterprise operating through very testing times.

With plenty of IT stock available, S2S supplied more than 4,000 fully refur­bished laptop and PC bundles to keep services up and running, showing their capability to adapt and remain resil­ient.

The company also invested heav­ily in decontamination equipment, meaning that any consignment being deployed was sprayed with a sanitising agent on receipt before and after processing. This was espe­cially important to ensure only decon­taminated stock was dispatched to minimise the risk of infection.

• One testimonial read: “We recently engaged with S2S to provide a ‘working from home bundle’ for one of our cus­tomers. I have been very impressed with the way that S2S handled this work and would not hesitate to work with it again in the future.”

Suez Recycling And Recovery UK and Somerset Waste Partnership (SWP)

Suez runs collection services for SWP, covering more than 250,000 house­holds. The March lockdown was declared a week before Suez took over the contract, with 20 out of 50 employ­ees on the mobilisation team having to shield or self-isolate, and major service changes due to begin in June.

All transferring staff were welcomed and inducted safely, thanks to more of Suez’s in-house training team joining at short notice, to respect social distancing with smaller groups.

The company ensured that enough PPE and key worker status letters were secured, and this, alongside a new set of safe working procedures, reassured everyone that all was being done to keep them safe. All new employees started on time and, on day one, 140 new vehicles with new in-cab technol­ogy were out with minimal disruptions.

To respond to the 30% increase in kerbside recycling as other services paused, SWP secured additional staff from district councils and their disposal contractor to support it and worked with the fire services to tackle road blockages.

• Elected members and residents rec­ognised that SWP and Suez teams successfully pushed through a mobilisation unlike any other at this time.
• Thank you messages were posted on social media and pre­sents were given to crews to show appreciation of the great collection services they have been providing to residents across the county.

Tiny Box

The packaging firm, which specialises in gift boxes and the jewellery sector, has always been at the heart of the independent makers’ community. When so many businesses struggled during the pandemic, the company spoke to its cus­tomers and came up with the idea of a platform which could help them with marketing, branding, packaging and dispatch.

Some smaller firms struggled to match consumer expectations when buying online, so the com­pany created Tiny Marketplace – an e-commerce platform – to support sellers. Tiny Box donated 10% of net profits from the marketplace to help start-ups grow and small businesses bounce back.

It also donated face masks to the NHS, gave discounts to key workers, and hosted a wellbeing hub on its web­site to help families and businesses stay strong during lockdown.

The response extended to Sussex and Cornwall communities, where the com­pany gave away products to charities and schools, donated boxes for care packages, as well as supporting nomi­nated charities.

Veolia

Veolia created the #StreetSmiles cam­paign during the height of the lock­down, to recognise the vital role of recycling and waste workers during the pandemic and thank them for delivering an outstanding service.

Veolia asked the public to draw a smiling sun and put it in their windows to “say thank you with a smile and brighten up the day of waste workers”. They were then asked to take a picture and post the drawings on social media using #StreetSmiles.

The campaign was delivered digitally in a two-phase approach for two months, and it had outstanding visibil­ity and impact. It was seen more than two million times and led to over 500 social media posts that included the #StreetSmiles mention.

Veolia staff said they noticed signifi­cant support from the public, and that they saw sun drawings and thank you notes every day on their rounds.

Local authority partners around the country also got involved, with 26 sharing the campaign. #StreetSmiles also achieved strong national and regional press coverage, with 46 pieces of media in total, including radio, print and online.

Hundreds of positive comments on the cam­paign were received, including:

• “I’ve never been prouder of the dedication shown by our key workers, who are keeping vital services up and running. The team at Veolia have shown resil­ience and unity while making sure our bins have been emptied and streets and parks are kept clean and safe.

“I hope the whole borough will join me in supporting the #StreetSmiles campaign to say thank you.” – Krupa Sheth, Brent Council cabinet member for environment.

• “Kids and adults in our area are put­ting their creativity to good use thank­ing local Veolia UK bin collectors with lovely personalised smiling suns on each of our bins – nearly 150 so far!” – Lisa, Brent resident.