Following strict guidelines announced late last year relating to the correct disposal of waste, companies have adopted a mobile phone app to ensure their workforce comply.
Businesses that fail to comply with the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 could face hefty fines and so must apply a new waste hierarchy before disposal and measure and record their waste output. It is part of a Government drive to divert certain types of waste from landfill and increase the use of recycling.
Pay-as-you-go mobile app MyMobileWorkers is the first of its kind in the UK to allow a workforce to accurately log any kind of job information such as waste activity on a mobile phone device which is then fed into a back office system.
One business using the app is Bioco Recycling, a foodwaste recycling service which is part of landscaping maintenance company Greenability. Bioco has been using the app to record details of any food or catering waste collected on jobs – information which could later be inspected by the Environment Agency.
Emily Wilkinson, Contracts Manager, from Bioco Recycling, said: “It’s vital that small businesses such as ours comply with the new waste disposal regulations brought in by the Government.
“We take our commitment to waste reduction and the environment very seriously and found that this mobile app is the perfect way of recording food waste we collect in an efficient and easy way without the need for any paperwork.”
MyMobileWorkers allows Bioco Recycling workers to record the type of food waste collected, where it is disposed and when as well as enabling staff to get signature proof to track the waste and take any photographs of it. So far Bioco has recycled more than one million kilogrammes of food waste - equivalent to the weight of approximately 233 Asian elephants.
Graham Whistance, founder of MyMobileWorkers, said: “The UK produces nearly 500 million tonnes of waste each year and in the UK a target has been set to reduce the amount of biodegradable waste going to landfill by 8 million tonnes by 2013.
“Businesses need to think about how they record their waste activity and I think we will see more and more businesses looking to log this information accurately on a computerised system rather than on paper.
“The app we have developed means workers on the road no longer have to use paperwork and can log the information on a mobile phone. The data captured on the mobile phone is then fed into a back office system so that staff can have instant access to all waste collection and disposal details including signatures and photographs.”
Emily added: “We have massively reduced our administration costs because workers don’t have to drop off paper job sheets for our office workers to input.
“This in turn has saved on paperwork helping with our corporate environmental strategy and also helping to reduce CO2 emissions through our workers not having to travel to offices to drop off job sheets and being able to complete jobs remotely.”
Graham added: “Our app is perfect for small companies who feel they may not be able to afford expensive logging devices on the road- the app is available on a pay-as-you-go 25p a job basis as well as on contract.”
The app is customisable for different business uses and building maintenance company MC Contracts based in Suffolk has been using it to manage repair jobs out on the road.
To sign up for a free trial of MyMobileWorkers visit www.mymobileworkers.com
