The Client

A charitable housing association operating throughout Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire – mostly in the Dacorum, St Albans, Watford, Aylesbury Vale, North Herts and Hertsmere districts – Hightown was established towards the end of the 1960s. It’s now the fastest growing housing association in England, currently managing over 8,000 homes – and supporting over 16,000 residents. This includes operating over 90 care and supported homes – for people with learning disabilities, mental health issues and people facing homelessness.

Its operations range from homeless night shelters to registered care homes. At present, it delivers over 16,000 support hours each week via services including:

• Mental health support – both in the community and through its supported housing schemes.
• Learning disability support – including supported living services and registered care homes.
• A young people’s service for those aged 16 to 24 – notably for those who’re homeless, leaving care, estranged from family or have difficulty staying in education, training or employment.
• A mother and baby service – providing accommodation and support to young women aged 16 to 24 who’re pregnant or who have a child who’s up to two years old.
• A homeless service – providing a safe, caring environment for residents, along with support and advice to give them the necessary social and life skills to move on to independent living.
• Support and resettlement – for those at risk of being homeless or who need support in managing life’s challenges.

Hightown aims to help the people who can’t buy or rent a home, privately, at current market values. To enable its customers to be more independent through support and suitable, accessible housing, Hightown employs over 1,000 staff – mainly in its care and supported housing schemes. It has plans to build a further 1,000 new homes over the next two years.

The Challenge

For many years, Hightown’s caretakers had been bringing waste from the association’s homes into Waste King’s Waste Transfer Site and recycling facility. There, the waste is separated to allow for the maximum amount of recycling. Indeed, Waste King’s trained and skilful operatives regularly manage to recycle 98% of Hightown’s waste – so very little of it goes to landfill. This contributes to significantly reducing Hightown’s carbon footprint.

However, none of Hightown’s properties has the space to instal a waste (or recycling) pod from Waste King, the environmentally-friendly waste collection and recycling services specialist. That’s because each site has nowhere to place it. Waste King’s lockable and weather-proof waste pods can store all kinds of waste – including hazardous materials, paint, light bulbs, televisions, computers, fridges and even electrical waste that aren’t allowed to be put in skips. The pods are cleaner for, and kinder to, the environment than a skip. Moreover, using a pod makes it easier to segregate, and thus re-cycle, waste. They also discourage fly tippers and prevent ‘skip diving’.

Instead of these pods, all Hightown sites have bin stores – but these can be subject to fly tipping if, for example, bulky furniture proves too large to go into the bin. So, Hightown faced the issue of how to improve the efficiency and cleanliness of its waste collection and disposal processes, while also being environmentally friendly and keeping its carbon footprint to a minimum.

The Solution

Since Hightown has been using Waste King’s services – notably at its transfer station – for many years and wants to continue enjoying Waste King’s friendly and efficient service, Matt Holben, one of Hightown’s Operatives’ Supervisors, and Sidney Lawson, one of the association’s Property Services Inspectors, met Waste King Account Director, Tracey Bower, to discuss how Waste King could meet this challenge.

The result was that, on request via email, Waste King’s operatives and vehicles now visit many of Hightown’s sites to collect waste. They then take that waste to Waste King’s Transfer Site for processing and recycling. Furthermore, Waste King collects waste from Hightown sites that’s too bulky for Hightown’s caretakers to fit into their vans.

“Sometimes, too, there’s a health and safety issue with the waste – and then it’s simpler and easier for Waste King’s trained and Environment Agency-licensed staff to collect it and transport it for recycling,” explained Tracey.

“Once we hear receive Hightown’s request to collect any waste, we do so within 24 to 48 hours,” Tracey added.

The Result

Now that this arrangement has been successfully trialled, Hightown is expanding its use of Waste King’s on-request collection and recycling service – including scheduling calls to more and more of its properties each month.

“Preserving our environment and ensuring our business practices are sustainable are key priorities for Hightown,” said Paul Hunt, one of Hightown’s caretakers. “That’s why we’re pleased to be getting such polite, friendly and highly professional environmentally-friendly waste collection and recycling services from Waste King.”