The waste industry could save ‘over £12 million’ per year by recording disposable data on mobile phones rather than on paper, Graham Whistance, Head of Workforce Management app MyMobileWorkers has announced.

UK waste legislation requires all businesses to produce, store and transport their waste without harming the environment. The Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 mean that they must also fill in waste transfer notes demonstrating that the waste has been appropriately disposed of and that a waste hierarchy has been applied before disposal, and keep these records for two years.

The Environment Agency (EA) reports that about 23 million of these waste transfer notes are produced each year in the UK, resulting in 50 million pieces of paper being stored in filing cabinets and boxes at any given time.

In order to combat this, in 2011 the EA introduced a national electronic duty of care (edoc) programme, an online system for waste data collection that will track how waste is produced, collected, transported, treated and disposed of.

Funded with support from EU LIFE+, the edoc programme aims to ‘modernise the way waste data is collected in the UK and greatly enhance the ability to extract good quality data for businesses, regulators and government’. It is hoped it will replace 18 million paper waste transfer notes by 2015.

Mobile phone results in 'less administration time'

Whistance, who is also a member of the Environment Agency Business Advisory Group for the edoc programme launched a mobile application in November 2011, MyMobileWorkers, to help waste companies document their waste transfer notes electrocnically on their mobile phones for 25p per job.

The app has reportedly helped small and medium sized companies save nearly £4m and Whitacre added, could save the waste industry £12 million a year in staff costs if all 23 million waste transfer notes were recorded on it.

He commented: “If all of the 23 million waste transfer notes were recorded on the MyMobileWorkers app, we predict it could potentially save £12 million in a year.

“This breaks down into saving £2.3 million a year on paper, £8 million in the administration time to process the jobs onto a computer and other £2 million in allowing 10 per cent for inputting errors.

“Waste companies need to be a step ahead of the game now because the benefits of digital waste transfer notes are clear – being able to collect real time data on waste movements, for improved data capture and for auditing purposes – all resulting in less administration time.”

One company, Lincolnshire-based food recyclers Bioco Recycling, has reported savings of 1,738 hours in staff time and about 6,750 sheets of paper since it began using the app.

Bioco’s team of nine waste collectors used the app to record their job details, such as how many bins they empty from sites, the weight of the containers, and where and when waste is disposed of, on their mobile phones. As a result, they say they have been able to reduce paperwork, make fewer trips to and from the head office to drop off paper job sheets, and spend less administration time transferring the data to computers.

Emily Wilkinson, business development manager at Bioco Recycling, commented: “We take our commitment to waste reduction and the environment very seriously and are delighted to have achieved these savings through using MyMobileWorkers. At Bioco Recycling we have recycled more than a million kilogrammes of food waste so it’s only right that our staff strive to save on paperwork too.”

Red Tape Challenge

Government has been keen to reduce the administrative burden on businesses and as part of the Red Tape Challenge, announced last year.

A consultation is expected to take place in March to see if business are interested in freeing themselves from 'having to fill in Waste Transfer Notes’, by allowing them to use invoices or ‘other forms’ of evidence (such as invoices) instead.

Read more about the EA’s edoc programme.