In April 2022, Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council, changed their recycling collection frequency from fortnightly to every three weeks, to achieve efficiency savings and respond to falling fibre yields. Due to limited investment to support housing growth and emerging operational challenges, the anticipated savings were not achieved, and services were affected.
In 2023, WRAP’s local authority support team collaborated with Tameside to critically evaluate their service delivery to present a well-informed proposal for further investment to elected members.
Problem
Solution
Impact
Problem
Prior to the change of recycling collection frequency, Tameside performed relatively well in recycling and residual waste yields and ranked in the top quartile within its comparator groups (mixed urban/rural areas with high deprivation).
However, following the service change and a legacy of limited investment to support housing growth, the anticipated efficiency savings of approximately £530K were not achieved. Operational challenges emerged, with resource imbalances making it difficult for teams to deliver planned services consistently. These issues were particularly acute during summer when garden waste volumes increased, though service disruptions occurred year-round across all collection streams.
Changes in senior management coincided with the service change which compounded the problem. New officers faced difficulties maintaining service delivery, leading to frequent reliance on temporary resources such as spare vehicles and agency staff, which caused significant overspending. Beyond budgetary concerns, customers experienced irregular and inefficient services, negatively impacting satisfaction, recycling participation, and operational team morale.
The lack of continuity in personnel further exacerbated the situation, as many operational factors and forecasts were unclear. Additionally, the availability of quality operational data before and after the change was limited. Consequently, the Head of Service sought support to determine whether the issue stemmed from genuine productivity challenges within collection crews or from inaccurate assumptions during the planning of the service change.
Solution
In 2023, WRAP’s local authority support team collaborated with Tameside to critically evaluate their service delivery and worked with specialist consultants to conduct a technical review of the council’s waste and recycling services, concentrating on operational resources and performance, with a lighter review of costs.
The aim was to provide the senior management team with evidence-based solutions to address service delivery issues. This desk-based review spanned three months and involved the Council’s Head of Service and Supervisor, supported by finance and customer service data, WRAP’s LA portal, wider benchmarking information, and consultant-held datasets.
Tameside’s service was modelled and benchmarked against comparator groups. Using service metric outputs, an optimised model - essentially a dummy bid - was developed for residual, dry recycling, and mixed organics waste streams, factoring in ambitious housing growth targets.
Key findings:
- The modelling exercise revealed that the service was under-resourced compared to similar authorities.
- To maintain the current collection system at comparable productivity levels, the Council would require one additional vehicle for residual waste and two additional vehicles for dry recycling, including allowances for housing growth.
- Further recommendations were explored, including adjustments to fleet composition, collection frequency, and separate food waste collections, alongside investment in supervision and enhanced monitoring and data collection to refine future outputs.
Impact
WRAP’s support equipped officers with the technical evidence needed to present a well-informed proposal to elected members, outlining the case for investment in the service with short, medium, and long-term options. In January 2025, elected members approved funding for route optimisation, in-cab technology, additional refuse collection vehicles, drivers, loaders, and the recruitment of an extra supervisor and administrator to strengthen service-wide support.
The benefits of these investments are already emerging, particularly in improved staff retention and morale, as employees see tangible evidence that the service is valued and supported. These enhancements are expected to deliver a reliable, high-quality service, increase customer satisfaction, and encourage greater use of recycling services to their full potential.
The support from WRAP provided credible evidence to demonstrate to our senior leadership team and Elected Members that waste services needed additional investment to provide a more reliable service and also meet the expectations of residents. We’ve now procured additional waste collection vehicles, expected later this year and are about to start work with an in-cab technology supplier on rolling out the system to our crews along with integration with the Council’s new customer relationship management system.
The investment of my team’s time and resources has certainly paid off and we’re looking forward to seeing further improvements over the next 12 months.
Jo Oliver, Head of Waste Management and Fleet Services at Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council