How to digitize the entire logistics process of waste management and educate the customer in a correct separation

Andrea started collecting scrap metal and soon after set up her own waste collection company. He thought: “This business can be improved, a lot.” At that time (2016), Recoambiente was born. The beginnings are always difficult, and in 2019 I had a company that worked, but I felt that it had not improved as much as expected. Many hours, a lot of effort and a lot of difficulties to grow operationally and in business. Waste collection is a highly regulated sector. The traceability of waste is critical, as is the documentation of all collection and delivery to the final waste manager. Until then, everything was notebooks, papers and a lot of WhatsApp. The pandemic hit and stopped the company's daily routine. This allowed him to think about all the processes they were carrying out. With one objective: To find more efficient operational and management solutions that would make the company grow. Waste collection is a job carried out by night operators, but all planning and operational management is carried out during the day. Coordination between teams is a key logistical challenge. Andrea was clear that they could not continue with notebooks and WhatsApp, if she wanted their business to grow.Managing incidents with customers; poorly separated waste, bags everywhere, extra time for the operator to leave the place habitable and a lot more. They were common problems for Andrea, and surely it's common in your company as well. Without tools to efficiently manage that communication, it caused operational and management costs to skyrocket, as well as the profitability of each customer and, finally, of the business. The first step she faced Andrea, was accepting that her company could not continue with these manual processes and that she was willing to invest time and a few resources in wanting to improve. These are the main objectives set by Recoambiente to achieve efficient, effective and profitable operational waste management:

• Efficient management of existing resources
• Easy and quick implementation of the tool
• Fuel savings and carbon emissions
• Standardization of the operating process
• Monitoring service times
• Increased customer satisfaction
• Improved internal communication between managers and operators

Andrea decided on Routal for the simple fact that we were simple, quick to implement and allowed her to digitize all the processes that generated so much management work. It took her just 6 months from starting with the idea until the tool became essential for her daily life. It took a few months for the more experienced (and most vicious) operators to accept that they had to change their usual way of working (and surely yours will also struggle with any change), for the new operators, everything was easy and intuitive. Arrive and start working. In Andrea's words, the key to the project's success has been the agility and ease with which the operations team could communicate with the operators without being present. Being able to manage all kinds of incidents, document each and every service effortlessly has been a before and after for us. Now, there is no one waiting 24 hours. All the information is accessible anywhere at any time. Having the traceability of the service, with images of the before and after, the exact time of the operation, the operator's comment and the classification of the waste has allowed us to penalize and overcharge customers who did not comply with the agreed agreement. All this information has helped us to educate customers in the correct separation of waste with the aim of improving the efficiency of collection and reducing the irresponsibility of some... These are the results obtained: