Cold weather bin collections go digital to improve service

Exeter City Council has turned to technology to tell residents about disruptions to refuse collections caused by bad weather.

Live information from refuse lorries is set to be beamed back to the authority’s website, informing residents of any problems caused by snow and ice.

A city council spokesman said: “We know that in times of extremely adverse weather conditions where residential roads have not been cleared of snow and ice by the Highways Authority, that it may become unsafe for our refuse collection vehicles to travel along those roads, or the roads may be blocked by other vehicles that have had difficulty moving and parking close to the kerb.

“In order to improve the flow of up-to-date information to citizens in these circumstances the council has developed a webpage which automatically links feed-back of obstructed roads from the onboard computer in each refuse collection vehicle cab, when reported by the driver.

“This would form one part of a range of communications available to inform citizens of the current situation on the ground.

“The webpage is still in development stage at the moment, and can be modified to provide or link to more information about any particular situation, so it is a flexible tool that can assist with getting information swiftly to a large audience.”

The authority came under heavy fire following widespread disruption to refuse collections in Exeter caused by heavy snow around Christmas 2010.