STRATFORD ROLL-OUT ‘MOST SUCCESSFUL’, SAYS VERDANT

Sevenoaks, Kent, 26 August 2008 – The roll-out of Stratford-on-Avon District Council’s new recycling and waste collection service went very smoothly, according to municipal services specialist Verdant, the council’s partner.

According to Verdant, which has implemented numerous recycling and waste service roll-outs with local authorities over the past decade, the scale of both service changes and the geographic area to be covered were the biggest it had worked on, with around 100,000 collections made each week.

Verdant managing director Roger Edwards said that there were some complaints about the new service roll-out, but described them as very low in comparison to other roll-outs. While some complaints may in fact have been enquiries about the service changes, he emphasised that Verdant welcomed service complaints and comments so that improvements could be made quickly and effectively.

“We apologise to customers who may have experienced problems,” said Edwards. “In service changes of this scale, there are bound to be some operational problems and we are committed to resolving them as soon as possible.”

He stated that delivering the council’s objectives – to implement new fortnightly recycling collection while providing weekly waste collection – has required significant logistics planning, including a fleet of new vehicles.

“This has been the biggest change of service that Verdant has ever implemented,” commented Edwards, “and it appears that it has been one of our most successful yet.

“This, I believe, is down to our close partnership with Stratford-on-Avon District Council, to the extensive and effective promotion and information campaign that it ran, and to the professionalism of Verdant staff. But most credit must go to local residents who have responded so positively and enthusiastically to the new service.”

Initial collection data shows that in the first fortnight of the new service, the local recycling rate peaked at 55 per cent, an increase of at least 12 per cent on the previous year.
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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 50 million recycling and refuse collections annually from nearly 800,000 households, and employs over 1,300 staff operating with 500+ 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