It’s been a tough few weeks for Midlothian Council’s frontline teams. But over at Waste Services, everyone has been pulling together to keep the bin wheels turning.
“There’s no doubt there have been challenges,” says Clare Neely, the Marketing and Service Development Officer: “The toughest part was the first week. Overnight we lost 25 operational staff who needed to shield and a further 17 who needed to self-isolate - you can understand why we had to suspend some services! But working together with other departments/services we’ve managed to keep essential collections going.”
Teams from across the council have stepped in to help where they can. Clare says: “Staff from Building Maintenance, Landscape Services and Roads teams have joined waste services to help our collection crews maintain social distancing – we couldn’t have done it without their staff to support us."
Other staff from within Waste Services have taken on different roles to help out too. “Gordon, for example, is normally our bin delivery and repair man, but he’s been drafted back to do collections as he knows the trade waste routes. He and Colin get extra points for posing for a photo to help us promote that glass collections are starting again!” adds Clare.
As well as keeping the physical service going, there has been a big job in managing residents' expectations. Clare says: “The Contact Centre and Communications teams have been helping us get the message out about suspended services. Contact centre staff in particular had to deal with the brunt of residents' frustration. Brown bins were suspended just as the service started and the recycling centres were closed just as we got the good weather, but we’re turning a corner with glass collections starting again from 27 April.”
Colin Taylor and Gordon Coutts helping promote waste services restarting