VERDANT DELIVERS, SAY ALL 23 COUNCIL CLIENTS

Sevenoaks, Kent, 18th June 2009 – ‘Verdant delivers value-for-money’ – that’s the unanimous verdict of its local authority clients in an independent client audit commissioned earlier this year.

Verdant (www.verdant-group.co.uk), which specialises in providing recycling, refuse, cleansing and grounds maintenance services to local authorities, designed the ‘Do We Deliver?’ opinion audit so that respondents could be as open and honest as possible about the company’s professionalism, service quality and support.

They were questioned on topics ranging from communication, operational quality, responsiveness and flexibility to management support and finances.

Every respondent (the client officers responsible for Verdant’s contract) said that Verdant delivered value-for-money, while 95% agreed that it delivered on service specification. Other key findings were:

• 75% said Verdant’s refuse performance was consistently above average

• 71% said its recycling performance was consistently above average or outstanding

• 77% said Verdant’s cleansing performance was acceptable or better

• Everyone agreed that service complaints were dealt with appropriately, while nearly all (95%) said Verdant had a flexible approach to problem-solving

• Three quarters (77%) felt Verdant was proactive about contract and operational improvement.
  

Verdant managing director Roger Edwards said: “We wanted our clients to confirm what we believe we are doing well as well as highlighting areas where we can make improvements. All our clients gave it to us straight, that honesty was refreshing and informative, and I thank them all for their across-the-board participation.

“The near-unanimous agreement about our delivering on value-for-money and service specification gives us a very valuable marketing message. Councils that are looking to outsource their recycling, refuse and cleansing operations, or that are re-tendering these services, need reassurance that their contractor can deliver operationally and financially. Verdant does.

“While we were delighted by the overall results showing that Verdant delivers on its promises, we were also pleased that the survey identified some areas for improvement as we need to keep moving forward.”

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About Verdant

Verdant Group Plc (www.verdant-group.co.uk), part of the fast-growing, recycling-led Greenstar UK group (www.greenstar.co.uk), provides high quality, efficient recycling, refuse, cleansing and grounds maintenance services for 24 local authorities in England, Wales and Scotland. It makes over 55 million recycling and refuse collections annually from nearly 1.1 million households, and employs over 1,600 staff operating with 600+ vehicles. Hundreds of staff are participating in a government-backed skills and awareness training programme which leads to a recognised vocational qualification. Verdant’s Arun Green Waste Club in West Sussex won Best Partnership Project at the 2007 National Recycling Awards, and Verdant also won the Best Commitment to Health & Safety category of the 2005 National Recycling Awards.

For further media information, contact:

Blair Drummond, Verdant PR consultant – tel (m) 07798 686 217, email blair.drummond@btopenworld.com