{"id":8363,"date":"2020-02-29T01:55:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-29T09:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/routeware.com\/blog\/our-community-your-academy\/"},"modified":"2025-05-05T13:49:44","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T20:49:44","slug":"our-community-your-academy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/routeware.com\/en_gb\/blog\/our-community-your-academy\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Community, Your Academy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Opportunity<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Our environment is a topic on the global stage and waste is a key part of the problem and message. People are listening, awareness is heightened, and the message is clear \u2013 behavior change. We\u2019ve never been more poised to be heard.<\/p>\n

Old methods are tied to old behaviours, we need to change if we expect change. Remember when you had to wait in line at the bank to do a simple withdrawal or deposit a check? Many years ago the banking industry went digital, and of course so many others to the point it\u2019s expected. I\u2019m talking – to go beyond the annual printed collection guide and calendars, step away from the phones, go beyond the long web pages and pages of materials, and become a real-time app with answers at your fingertips. Many waste industry players have embraced this and therefore have years of knowledge – making mistakes, doing things right, refining practices, and rolling with the millenium. We\u2019ve been alongside them learning, improving and pushing. Tap into this wealth of knowledge – tap into our Community.<\/p>\n

Our Community<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The ReCollect community is made up of hundreds of municipalities and haulers across North America and the UK; many employees who have worked for similar municipalities and haulers in various capacities like school outreach coordinators and feet on the street curbside auditors; our leaders are influential like our CEO David Eaves named<\/a> Top 10 most influential in government tech <\/a><\/strong>(ahem! how many companies can say something like that) and our CTO Luke Closs – a sought after contributor to Code for Canada<\/strong><\/a>. Not to mention, we\u2019re all people who live in a dwelling and need to know what what bin something goes in!<\/p>\n

Our network is large and strong, full of waste industry experts and therefore the true meaning of a wealth of knowledge.<\/p>\n

Our Challenge<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We all share common responsibilities \u2013 from curbside changes like introducing a new Organics program while switching to bi-weekly garbage, how to communicate and enforce it all, to constant education due to ever changing markets of what\u2019s accepted and what\u2019s not. This of course with grand goals of increasing diversion by 40% or zero waste, reducing contamination while improving resident happiness, and on a budget! The good news is by going digital you have tangible evidence of contribution to these goals, but more so you fast-track your results because of the wealth of knowledge by expanding your network to our community.<\/p>\n

Going Digital<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Residents Talk!<\/strong> One of our favorite mobile app reviews that we get quite often is \u201cthe day before garbage day reminder saved my marriage.\u201d 5 stars.<\/p>\n

\u201cA Communications Cornerstone\u201d<\/strong> as said by Julie Rosenbach \u2013 Sustainability Director, South Portland. Digital offers people real-time reminders and recycle-right answers from the ease of a hand-held device.<\/p>\n

Printed calendars and recycling guides<\/strong> – do you dream of moving away from them? We like to envision all the trees we\u2019re saving because of what Philippa Wagner, Green Cart Implementation Leader, City of Calgary said while making a major program change. \u201cWe weaned residents off printed calendars during this major service change.\u201d Their estimated savings of not distributing calendars \u201c$400,000 per year, the equivalent of 200 trees!\u201d<\/p>\n

Sending real-time service alerts<\/strong> for service disruptions for example, \u201cin the past about 75 percent of those homes would call the city about the missed collection. [After using the Service Alert feature] I found out the next day, we had three calls…I thought that was a really fun way to provide customer service that really went above and beyond what is typically expected from municipal communications. We\u2019re really able to be proactive instead of reactive.\u201d Tori Carle, waste reduction supervisor for the city of Greensboro<\/p>\n

Data Intelligence<\/strong> – comes simply by people interacting with the app. A huge advantage to knowing what materials people are confused about, informs education and service programs. Recycle CT<\/strong><\/a> includes the top materials searched in their app, right on their website homepage next to the lookup wizard.<\/p>\n

Driving Adoption<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The key to introducing mobile and web apps is to really focus on driving (pointing) people to the app. All communications should include a link to the website and certainly the universally known Google Play and Apple download buttons – like this postcard template<\/strong><\/a> we give to our customers use.<\/p>\n

Use every communication channel to send the same message, like this ATL <\/a>Twitter feed<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As people begin to get those reminders that save their marriage, you add succinct educational messages about proper disposal of materials you know they\u2019re confused about, or changes you\u2019re making like \u201cwe\u2019re now accepting glass!\u201d People will appreciate the value and in turn tell their friends and neighbors about it. You\u2019ll become an evangelist like me! I love when I strike up a conversation with a stranger, and if we talk about what we do for a living \u2013 I get to either tell them about the app in their city, or better yet \u2013 they tell me they have it and love it!<\/p>\n

What you put into promotion; you get out in adoption. That\u2019s where our Academy helps!<\/p>\n

The ReCollect Academy<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I\u2019ve worked for software companies for over 15 years now, watched the evolution and learned truly what customers need in order to be successful. For a software company, it is very common to have a Help section \u2013 a hub to access How-To videos and Tips on using features. We do that. But the real substance, the real help, comes from the generosity of the ReCollect community. A hub of the wealth of knowledge by those who walk the walk, and ultimately drive behavior change. This is your fastpass to success.<\/p>\n

A peak into what to expect from our Academy built by our community:<\/p>\n

Webinars<\/strong> \u2013 a platform for our customers to speak and share the challenges they\u2019ve tackled and how they\u2019ve achieved success.<\/p>\n

The 2020 series is entitled: Broaden Your Network and Best Practices.<\/em> Topics planned:<\/p>\n