The following are examples of methods that are available to residents to help monitor the progress of their project and evidence any changes in waste disposal behaviour. Using more than one method is useful to help back up any findings.
1. Photographic Records
Taking photos of bin stores and inside bins at regular intervals before, during and after the interventions to give visual evidence of change in the amount of waste. This could be how many bags of x material are present at certain times, reduction in waste if previously bins were overfull and recording if any fly tipping is present.
2. Questionnaire
Conducting a survey before and after of residents opinions will provide anecdotal evidence. It would also be useful to include questions on how they think their habits have changed and how many bags of rubbish/recycling they produce a week. These should be from a range of stakeholders to be considered significant, such as residents, Tenant and Resident Association representatives and any cleaners/ caretakers. This could be done online via platforms such as google forms with a small cash incentive prize draw for those who complete it.
3. Waste Diary
Asking residents to keep a regular waste diary of what they dispose of (ie how many bags of recycling or waste a week) before, during and after interventions. This could include photos of their own bins/bags/personal waste analysis.
4. Visual Waste Analysis
Particularly useful for contamination.
● The contents of each bin are assessed and a photo taken from above
● If any easily removable contamination was present (cardboard in the mixed recycling bin) it can be removed and placed in the correct bin
● The fill level of the bin is estimated (as a percentage) and noted
● The percentage of correct items in the bin was estimated and noted
● Any fly tipping around the bin store is logged
5. Interviews
Much like the questionnaire, this will provide in depth anecdotal evidence on the habits, thoughts and opinions of stakeholders such as residents, representatives and cleaners/caretakers.
6. Professional Waste Analysis
Recruiting a waste management company to carry out a waste composition analysis before and after any interventions would provide the most accurate and reliable method of data collection and monitoring. Use of these and any charges incurred can be included as part of your project bid. Companies to contact include Resource Futures, Alfred H Knight and SOCOTEC. As with any work undertaken as part of the project, 3 quotes must be secured before the funds are released.