THE CHALLENGE

West London Waste Authority initially adopted a booking system with the intention of dampening the huge pressure the recycling centres were under after the easing of lockdown restrictions following Covid 19. WLWA found a booking solution that did what was required at the time, but as time went on it became clear that incorporating their requirements into a standard booking system wasn’t going to work in the long term. Emma Hall, Project Manager at WLWA had this to say, “There were certain elements with this booking system that highlighted it was not fit for purpose” this resulted in “Issues for both the admins and residents” and in addition to this, she went on to add that the booking platform they had at the time was struggling to deal with “the sheer volume of bookings, causing problems”.

Due to sustained pressures, issues with their current supplier and the fact that WLWA could see that they could do more with the right system WLWA started to look for a new supplier.

This is where Pentagulls ESB HWRC Booking System came in.

THE SOLUTION

Pentagulls HWRC Booking System provides both the functionality and flexibility needed to meet the demands of WLWA with ease. With the help of our ESB platform, residents in the West London area can make bookings to attend recycling centres in the Boroughs of Brent, Hounslow, Richmond and Ealing. This is supported by Emma who believes that “Pentagull’s system has eliminated all of the issues faced due to the previous system with customer bookings now being quick and simple”. The solution allows these sites to never be caught out by unexpected demand, as each resident is allocated an available time slot of their choice.

The ESB platform far exceeded the Waste Authority’s expectations and is seen as brilliant value for money due to the multiple features that are offered. One of the many useful features are the statistical reports that provide a visual representation of site data, outlining the popularity of sites and the most common waste types brought on site by residents. Emma has outlined that the “data dashboard and reporting functions are reliable and easy to use for staff”.

In addition to this West London Waste Authority have sites; Brent and Richmond upon Thames which fall under the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ). Emma added that our reporting functions have “assisted in helping WLWA monitor carbon emissions to baseline trends and tie in with the carbon action plan”. Pentagull’s DVLA lookup has been a huge help to the authority by providing information on vehicle emissions and when this is tied in with where a resident has travelled from, and which site they have travelled to, they are now able to calculate the carbon footprint of the journey.

To go beyond expectations even further, a vehicle registration blocklist functionality was also integrated, allowing site staff to refuse access to problematic customers. Due to this, Emma believes that Pentagull have “listened to feedback and made improvements to create a booking system that fits our purpose”.

THE FUTURE

Looking forwards to the future, we believe that our can-do attitude and tendency to continuously go above and beyond for our customers will help further improve the relationship with the West London Waste Authority. With the initial product work completed, we believe that solid foundations have been put in place to further improve our already successful HWRC Booking System with WLWA.

Emma is just as optimistic about the future with Pentagull, stating that “although the original purpose of the booking system was to ease pressures through COVID-19, WLWA envision the booking system evidencing and supporting future system changes to improve resourcing and efficiencies”. One of these future system changes is the integration of ANPR to the sites, which Emma believes “will bring about additional positive changes”.

In addition to this, the data from Pentagull’s reporting will continue to help inform policy changes that will hopefully further assist in underpinning WLWA’s green credentials.