The introduction of a new waste management service based on contracting has been well received by the Canberra community.
It has proved so effective the ACT Government has set an ambitious goal of achieving zero waste by 2010. It is the first public authority in Australia to set itself this challenge.
Since the new service was introduced, community participation in recycling has risen to over 98 percent and waste to landfill has decreased by 43 percent. Furthermore, costs are lower than those of comparable Local Government waste services.
The new system was established after first finding out what sort of service would be most acceptable to ratepayers. Twelve months of trialing identified a weekly 140 litre bin household garbage collection and a fortnightly 240 litre bin recyclables collection as the most cost effective system.
In a purchaser/provider split, ACT Waste became the purchaser. Contracts were let to providers in three distinct areas of the service, household services, major waste streams such as demolition waste, and landfill operations.
From the start, contract management was seen as a vital ingredient. A multi skilled team within ACT Waste was established to develop, negotiate and implement them.
A second team administers the contracts at three levels. Level One manages daily issues such as client enquiries. Level Two includes management of more complex problem resolution, inspections and regular workplace meetings, and Level Three administers team direction, contract resolution and policy advice.
Contracts are framed on performance based service delivery. The contractors are required to liaise directly with the community, providing information on the service and dealing directly with any problems.
By having contractors responsible for maintaining complaints systems, the number of steps needed to achieve remedial action is greatly reduced. ACT Waste monitors performance through the requirement of daily reports and auditing by telephone polling.
