SWALE’S STREETS AMONGST THE CLEANEST, WITH VERDANT’S HELP

10th March 2009 – The ‘commitment and professionalism’ of street cleansing crews deployed by municipal services specialist Verdant have helped Swale Borough Council become one of the country’s top performing councils for its clean streets.

Government-appointed inspectors monitored conditions in towns and villages across the country as part of a ‘National Indicator’ project. Swale first achieved a five per cent failure rate (very comfortably inside the Government’s target rate of 25 per cent) between April and July 2008. The hard work of the council’s street scene officers, supported by street wardens and Verdant’s cleansing crews, then cut this further for the period August to November, achieving a 99 per cent pass rate.

Residents in Swale can register concerns about a road or area that they feel is not being maintained to acceptable standards. When such a notification is received, the council immediately assigns a street scene officer who calls on residents to discuss their concerns and to confirm if action is required.

Malcolm Savill, Verdant’s business manager for its Swale recycling, refuse and cleansing contract, says the 35 members of his cleansing crews work closely with Swale council’s officials, responding quickly to notified problems.

“We look after the cleanliness of over 800 kilometres of roads around the Swale borough, but the results of our work can be quickly wrecked by litter louts and others. The rapid response service ensures we get to the problem quickly and fix it. The survey result shows just what can be achieved with our people’s commitment and professionalism.”

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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