ReCollect: Enhancing Resident Engagement with Targeted Communications​

Municipal solid waste and recycling teams field the same questions every week: which day is my pickup, what goes in this bin, and why didn’t anyone tell me the holiday schedule changed. ReCollect: Enhancing Resident Engagement with Targeted Communications is a working session built for the people who own that inbox — solid waste directors, communications and marketing staff, and 311 or customer service teams at cities, counties, and haulers who want residents using self-service tools instead of the phone. Routeware’s Craig Burkhart and Erika Nickels, walk through how ReCollect’s calendar, mobile app, and messaging tools work together to get the right information to the right resident at the right time, and how that shift shows up in fewer missed carts, lower call volume, and cleaner recycling streams.

What You’ll Learn

• How ReCollect’s messaging features work — sending targeted, personalized reminders (collection day alerts, holiday schedule changes, contamination notices) instead of one generic blast to every resident
• What a complete digital communication suite looks like in practice — service request tools, a collection calendar, the Waste Wizard sorting search tool, a resident-facing mobile app, and a waste sorting game, and how each piece supports the others
• What to communicate, and when — best practices for timing reminders, flagging schedule disruptions, and following up after a missed or contaminated collection
• The measurable case for digital over print/phone outreach — how municipalities using ReCollect see fewer missed collections, lower inbound call volume, and stronger resident trust in the services they’re already paying for
• Real customer questions, answered live — the session’s audience Q&A covers practical account-level questions on SmartCity integration, Waste Wizard search behavior, and reminder/notification reporting

Why It Matters

Every “what day is my pickup” call, every contamination fine a resident wants explained, and every missed-cart complaint costs staff time that a well-timed, targeted message could have prevented in the first place. For a public works or solid waste department, that time adds up fast — and it’s rarely the highest-value use of a customer service team’s day. Shifting resident communication onto a digital-first channel doesn’t mean redesigning your collection program; it means putting a smarter communication layer on top of the one you already run. Departments that do this consistently see it in three places that matter to a budget and a performance report: fewer truck rolls for missed or improperly sorted carts, fewer calls landing on a customer service line that’s already stretched thin, and higher resident satisfaction scores tied to services the city is already delivering.

If you’re responsible for resident communication, customer service, or recycling education at a city, county, or hauler, this session was built for you. Watch the on-demand replay to see ReCollect’s calendar, app, and messaging tools in action.