Oxfordshire County Council has the highest household waste recycling rate of any county council in England at almost 60%. However, it estimates that around 50% of food waste in the county is not put out for collection in food waste bins. This means that not all food waste is disposed of through anaerobic digestion, a process that saves money for councils, reduces environmental impacts, such as methane release, and generates green energy. Just nine recycled banana skins can produce enough energy through anaerobic digestion to fully charge a laptop.

Indirect communications with the general public, such as leaflets and social media, were not having sufficient impact on food recycling rates, so Oxfordshire County Council decided to engage directly with households. Working with four district councils and Oxford City Council, it identified properties that were consistently not setting out food waste bins and then visited these households to encourage them to use the food waste collection service. The initiative was, however, largely paper-based, very complex and incredibly time-consuming to administer, making it unsustainable in this format.

Taking a fresh look at the whole initiative, the council’s recycling department worked with in-house geographic information system (GIS) specialists to build a more streamlined and efficient approach. The council’s GIS team had previously used Esri’s ArcGIS system to transform other survey processes, in areas including local nature recovery planning, and leveraged this experience to build a new food waste survey solution in just two weeks.

Launched in 2024, the new survey method begins in ArcGIS Enterprise, where an app displays the addresses at which food waste bins are consistently not put out for collection. This data then feeds into ArcGIS Workforce, a mobile app solution that simplifies the process of managing field-based teams and allocating tasks. It enables Oxfordshire County Council to create efficient routes for its five surveyors, with information on which specific properties to visit.

In the field, the surveyors then use a mobile data collection form, created with the ArcGIS Survey123 app builder, to record interactions with householders, including information about any barriers they face to using food waste collection services. Surveyors can also record what resources they supply to householders, ranging from information leaflets to new food waste bins and free compostable bin liners. The survey form is easy to use and can be completed even in areas with no mobile signal.

Staff in the recycling department can monitor the progress of surveys from their desks, in real-time, using ArcGIS Workforce and change assignments on the fly if necessary. Then, when surveys are completed, they can use the charts and maps embedded within the ArcGIS Survey123 app to see graphical representations of the survey responses and identify trends. The data is also exported into Microsoft Excel for further analysis.

30% reduction in project delivery costs
Using ArcGIS, Oxfordshire County Council can now complete its food waste recycling survey much more efficiently and effectively than in previous years. Mark Watson, Circular Economy Projects Officer at Oxfordshire County Council says, “Our use of ArcGIS has led to a substantial reduction in the time required to manage and admister the survey process—so much so that the 2024 project was delivered 30% more cost effectively than the year before.”

Productivity targets achieved in the field
The council’s surveyors are able to work very efficiently in the field as ArcGIS Workforce eliminates duplication of effort and provides clear jobs lists, while the ArcGIS Survey123 app is far easier to use than paper-based forms. In 2024, surveyors succeeded in visiting 9,165 properties and achived their productivity target of surveying an average of 50 households per day.

19.5% increase in food recycling
The ArcGIS-driven approach is having a measurable impact on the number of households using the food waste recycling service. In a study of 521 households that received survey visits in 2024, Oxfordshire County Council found that participation in food recycling increased by 19.5% from 42% to 50%. Across the project area more widely (and taking into account properties that were already using the food waste service), participation increased to over 70%, which is a siginificant milestone for the council.

£12K in annual cost savings
In 2024 alone, Oxfordshire County Council successfully diverted 95.8 tonnes of additional food waste from general rubbish to food recycling following the completion of the ArcGIS survey process. Disposing of food waste via anaerobic digestion is currently £130 per tonne cheaper than disposing of mixed waste, so the council saved £12,455 in just one year. By targetting similarly-sized areas elsewhere in the county in future years, it expects to make similar savings annually.

Reduced environmental impacts
Importantly, the new ArcGIS food waste survey process helps the council to reduce its carbon footprint by around four tonnes annually. It also supports the circular economy by ensuring more food waste is used to generate power and fertiliser that can be used for growing new food crops. Watson is clearly proud to assert, “Now we have an efficient, digital process that is saving a significant amount of money for the council, while also reducing our environmental impacts.”