Did you know that all our bin wagons and recycling vehicles have in-cab technology and are fitted with 360 degree CCTV?
Having this available on all our vehicles means that our crews are able to record a number of things when making their collections.
How in-cab works
When our crews are making their rounds, they can record many things, from problems with your recyclables, to the situations that will prevent them from being able to perform their job, such as access issues with blocked cars.
Cllr David A Bithell, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, explains: “Having in-cab technology in our vehicles lets our teams record many issues that they face in their working day. If they couldn’t access a particular road, that would be recorded through in-cab for instance.
“The home screen of the in-cab shows our crews the eight nearest properties to their bin wagon/recycling vehicle and from there our staff can click on each property to record a number of details if required, including any contamination issues.”
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Contact centre
The information that is recorded through in-cab gets sent through to our contact centre. This helps us as when our contact centre staff receive a call from the public to report a problem such as a missed bin, they can see if that person’s bin was out when we went to their street.
Cllr Bithell adds: “We use the recorded information when members of the public contact us to ask questions like why their bins haven’t been emptied. We know it can be frustrating missing a collection, but some things are beyond our control…so it’s good that we have this information ready.”
Our online systems also use this information when you report a missed bin through our website.
So what can we record? Here’s some of the things we use in-cab for…
Bin not out
The first thing that can be recorded is whether or not your bin/recycling was out when our crews visited your street.
Remember, our teams start their work very early in the morning so we need your bins/recycling to be presented by 7.30am each morning. If you put them out any later, our crew might have already visited your street.
Contamination issues
In-cab allows us to recorded any contamination issues with your bins/recycling. These include:
• Recyclables in household waste
• Cardboard not being recycled correctly
• Polystyrene packaging (non-recyclable) in recycling
• Electrical items in your bins
• Scrap metal in your bins
• Soil in your garden waste
• Incorrect food liners in your caddy
• Dog waste in your green bin
• Nappies in your recycling
Recycling fact: Washing your plastic pots, tubs, trays and bottles before they’re collected means a much better quality of recyclable material is sent off to be recycled into new products. pic.twitter.com/p1gjES9y4l
— Wrexham Council (@wrexhamcbc) March 3, 2019
Access issues
We use in-cab to record when there are any access issues such as blocked cars, which prevent us from getting to your street.
You can help avoid this by taking extra care when parking your vehicles on your collection day. We understand that not everyone has a drive or a garage, and these people rely on street parking.
But if you know that your bins are going to be collected, please have a look at your street to check there’s enough room for our large vehicles to safely perform their duties.
Remember, our wagons are heavy and wide, so our drivers need to be certain they can safely travel down a street and manoeuvre without causing any damage. If this isn’t the case, they have to go back, which leaves some households disappointed.
Other issues
We can also record other things like whether you left any loose bags at the side of your bins, whether your bins were too heavy to collect, contents jammed in your bin, damage to any of your bins or if you were trying to use an unauthorised second bin.
Missed bins can be reported by calling 01978 298989 or online here. Report before 3pm and they’ll be collected within three working days if WCBC are at fault. Missed collections where there’s no fault to the council will be collected on your next scheduled collection day as per your calendar.
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