How a local authority partnership successfully implemented a radical change to waste collection, saving money and improving services

In 2017, Daventry District Council (now part of West Northants Council following a re-structure) began to consider its strategy for household waste collection. Like the whole of the public sector, the authority had suffered significant budget cuts as a result of the government’s austerity programme. After nine years of cost-cutting, it was committed to saving money wherever possible, but without compromising the quality of services for its residents.

Elected members were prepared to look at a range of options, which included in-house delivery, continuing to outsource using the traditional procurement process, and collaboration with other local government authorities.

They were also keen not to rule out alternative collection regimes – even if this involved radical changes which risked upsetting local residents. Although the existing alternate weekly general waste/recycling system was popular, the council felt that it was not the most efficient approach, and there was a growing demand for food waste collections.

Following in-depth research and lengthy discussions, a switch to a 1-2-3 regime was mooted. This comprised:

1-weekly – food collection
2-weekly – co-mingled dry recyclate collection
3-weekly – residual waste collection

Although this system was not unheard-of (and indeed some local authorities had adopted even less frequent collections, including 4-weekly), Daventry Council would be pioneers – which presented some risk.

At the same time, discussions were under way with Norse Group, the UK’s largest local authority trading company (LATCo). Norse had for almost twenty years been developing their joint venture partnership model, and in 2017 had over twenty up and running with councils across the UK.

This business model was founded on co-ownership, which gave partner councils shares in the company, and board representation. Norse’s combination of trading experience and public service ethos was dubbed “ethical commercialism” by Jonathan Werran, head of thinktank Localis.

Working with Norse offered the council a number of advantages:

  • Access to the company’s commercial knowhow, built up over almost thirty years of trading in competitive marketsThe public service ethos which stemmed from their local authority ownership, and reflected the council’s own social value objectives
  • A high degree of control over service delivery
  • Proven cost efficiency, on a par with the best of the private sector outsourcing providers
  • The flexibility built into the model which would enable significant change to be easily implemented, without the need for contract re-negotiation – and without financial penalty

Following wide-ranging consultations, the members voted unanimously to go ahead with the joint venture, and Daventry Norse was born. Staff working for the incumbent contractor transferred under TUPE regulations, and a new Director, Nick Drake, was appointed to run the partnership.

On 1 June 2018 the new service went live, delivered by the joint venture company. Despite a few minor teething troubles, the mobilisation went smoothly, and there was minimal disruption to the collection service.

An intensive and highly effective media campaign by the council meant that residents had been kept informed throughout the process. Because of this awareness, they were well prepared for the changes to their waste collection, which contributed to the very low number of complaints.

Prior to the Norse partnership, the services were delivered by a major private sector provider, using 7 crews each for recycling and residual waste collections, and working on an alternate weekly cycle. Garden waste was collected fortnightly. To meet demand the service operated six days per week, from Monday to Saturday.

The move to a 1-2-3 system, implemented by the new joint venture company Daventry Norse (now West Northants Norse or WNN), provided an opportunity to reduce the resources needed – both vehicles and staff.

Recycling collections now used 6 crews on a fortnightly basis, and only 3 crews were needed for residual waste, picked up every three weeks. A weekly food waste service, using pods on recycling and garden waste vehicles, was introduced.

The re-structure also meant that the service could operate over a five-day working week.

All of this was achieved without any redundancies, partly because of staff shortages (experienced by many local authorities and their suppliers), and partly by moving operatives to support crews.

The reduction in vehicles has saved over £750,000 per year, and significant savings have been made on staff costs. Total savings since the move to 1-2-3 working represent over 7.5% of previous cost to the council – and have been maintained consistently throughout the life of the partnership.

Resident satisfaction remained high during and after the re-engineering of the service, thanks largely to well-planned and clear communication to residents, which started several months in advance of the change; and thanks to a smooth mobilisation by Norse, and a well-managed transition aided by the outgoing contractor. Recent surveys indicate continuing high levels of resident satisfaction in the service.