As you know, waste management operations face a myriad of challenges. However, allowing members of the public to anonymously submit reports on waste management can offer significant benefits and help solve various challenges.

In this guide, we’ll examine how waste management can effectively use mobile public reporting to enhance and optimize operational efficiency, efficacy, accountability, and communications. I’ll share some handy tips throughout from my years of experience managing mobile fleets, so stick around and get ready to optimize your operations, making your job easier.

Understanding Public Reporting in Waste Management

For those who may not grasp the scope of waste management operations, here’s a quick run-down. Many municipalities have multiple types of waste collection services. In my area of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, our public waste collection includes:

• Regular garbage
• Plastics and glass recycling
• Paper and cardboard recycling
• Yard waste
• Kitchen compostables
• Large or bulky items*

* This service requires advance scheduling and includes items like bathtubs, furniture, rolled/tied-up carpets, mattresses, and similar items ⁽¹⁾.

My municipality also has community recycling centers where we can drive and drop off any of the above waste types and hazardous goods, such as partial cans of chemicals, paints, fluorescent bulbs, batteries, and similar items.

Across the border to the south, we find that places like New York state have similar programs, managing everything from residential waste and recycling to hazardous waste management. ⁽²⁾

Continuing south all the way to Florida, we find similar waste management with infrastructure in place for everything from grease to waste tires. ⁽³⁾ 

To truly understand waste management, you need to understand all its aspects, including not just residential services but also the various commercial services for businesses and industries. As waste management is a multifaceted and complicated concept for municipalities, portions of the services are typically subcontracted to private companies.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Now that you know how complex waste logistics and management are, let’s discuss making them easier with public reporting solutions.

Public reporting involves sharing information from the public sector with individuals, groups, or organizations. Software, such as mobile apps like 1st Reporting, makes this process easier by allowing organizations to create custom forms that the public can use to submit information.

In the case of waste management, public reporting enables municipalities to provide a custom form that the public can use to communicate with waste management. Municipalities can use public reporting forms to get feedback about services, enable people or businesses to request bulky item pickups or conduct any number of similar interactions. 

The essence of public reporting in waste management is optimized communications, which allows for better response times. Let’s talk a little more about that next.

How Public Reporting Can Optimize Operations

I mentioned optimized communications, and I think it’s fairly clear how that works—a member of the public submits a form online, and it is instantly delivered to the appropriate recipient. The response, however, is often dependent on the operating hours that happen to coincide with the time a form is submitted. 

Public reporting benefits waste management in other ways. First, it delivers real-time issue reporting if used to assist with missed pickups or overflowing bins. It helps the public by providing a feedback or request mechanism, it improves efficiency due to the speed of communications, it provides data that you can use to see trends, and it can save money. That’s a big claim, but it’s true. We’ve talked to clients about how their operations have improved with this field reporting technology, and it’s been overwhelmingly apparent that it delivers. 

Real-Time Data Collection and Incident Reporting

The value of real-time data for monitoring waste management activities should not be underestimated. Incidents can be immediately reported and addressed, reducing potential risks or hazards using public reporting technologies. Real-time data plays a critical role in monitoring waste management activities by providing instant insights into operations.

Enhancing Efficiency through Customizable Forms and Notifications

Let’s talk about customization. One of the things I love about the 1st Reporting application is that the customizable features hand over the controls. In other words, it’s easy to use and gives you total control over your form fields as well as custom notifications. Now, when I say custom notifications, I don’t mean just automating who gets a message. In 1st, you get the ultimate control over who receives the message, what the message says, and also the trigger and conditions that enable the message in the first place. With such oversight, you can create highly customized automated notifications that send the right message to the right person at the right time for ultimate oversight and drastic reductions in response times.

Improving Accountability and Transparency

Public reporting enables the public to communicate with waste management. I know what some of you are thinking: Why would I want to give them any more channels to complain? However, it is not about complaints; it’s about transparency and accountability to those paying the bill—municipal taxpayers. Taxpayers generally want transparency with the government, don’t you? Public reporting is one way that municipalities can embrace transparency and accountability and improve their services to the benefit of all within the community.

Furthermore, enabling public reporting when sub-contracting work like waste pickup to private companies is a way that municipal waste management can hold their hired contractors accountable. After all, companies generally compete for those municipal contracts, so it’s within the power of the hiring municipality to enforce a public reporting and response initiative to not only hold the contractors accountable but also as a means to improve their services further.

GPS and Location-Based Tracking for Waste Management

Working in service with a fleet of service trucks to manage, I understand the need for transparent oversight. Utilizing GPS vehicle tracking is a great way to manage a moving fleet. Most waste management companies use it. However, what if you’re in the municipal waste management office, but the work is subcontracted to a private company? Sure, that company likely has GPS tracking on their fleet, but are they likely to share that data in real-time with your office? Not likely.

Overseeing contracts with private companies can be like running down the road with one eye closed. Without appropriate oversight, who knows how they are handling things in the real world? They won’t share fleet tracking information, but you can still take advantage of technology and use GPS-featured forms for public reporting. Tools like the 1st Reporting application handle this sort of thing with ease.

The 1st Reporting app has GPS-enabled form elements, so you could easily create a public reporting form where the public can send information about waste management. The information could include the date, time, and location where the member of the public submitted the form.

Streamlining Compliance and Regulatory Reporting

Public reporting is a way to improve oversight by recruiting the general public to act as observers around the municipality. By doing so, you enable a means of streamlining compliance with regulations through instant real-time reporting and drastically improved ability to respond to compliance and regulatory concerns quickly.

Optimizing Your Waste Management Strategy with Public Reporting

Incorporating public reporting into your waste management strategy brings undeniable benefits. From real-time incident reporting and GPS-tracked submissions to customizable forms and notifications, public reporting helps streamline operations, enhance efficiency, and improve safety. Plus, by giving the public a voice, you boost accountability and transparency—two vital elements in maintaining trust and ensuring quality service.

Whether you’re managing a municipal fleet or subcontracting waste services to private companies, public reporting can provide the data and insights you need to make informed decisions and stay compliant with regulations. If you’re ready to optimize your waste management operations, now’s the time to explore reporting tools like the 1st Reporting application and see how they can transform your approach.

Article Sources

1. “Bulk Items and Furniture | City of Hamilton.” 2024. Hamilton.ca. 2024. https://www.hamilton.ca/home-neighbourhood/garbage-recycling/garbage-bulk-items/bulk-items-and-furniture.
2. ‌“Hazardous Waste Management.” 2021. Department of Environmental Conservation. 2021. https://dec.ny.gov/environmental-protection/waste-management/hazardous-waste.
3. “Waste Management | Florida Department of Environmental Protection.” 2022. Floridadep.gov. 2022. https://floridadep.gov/waste.