Kent-based Equinox Recycling has noticed a significant impact on its revenue since installing its entire fleet of waste collection vehicles with bin-weighing systems, all of which have been fully weights and measures certified for Pay-by-Weight services. Every collection is weighed to within 1kg and customers are charged according to what they throw.
Andy Gibbons, Managing Director, Equinox Recycling said: “We’ve noticed a massive effect on the business with both turnover and profit increasing by at least 10%. Now we know the accurate weight of each collection we can charge customers accordingly. It gives us the opportunity to identify potential missed revenue from customers who regularly present heavy or overweight bins. We are also able to advise customers regarding recycling alternatives.”
The vehicles, all Inco-Mol bodies on DAF chassis, are equipped with the ENVIROWEIGH bin-weighing system from vehicle weighing and axle overload protection specialists Vehicle Weighing Solutions Ltd (VWS). VWS calibrated and re-verified the weighing systems on site at Equinox’s premises in Tonbridge.
In 2017 VWS became the first weighing company in the UK to be approved by the National Measurement and Regulation Office (NMRO) to verify its own bin weighing and underbody weighing equipment for Pay-By-Weight services. It is good practice to service and check the calibration of the equipment every year and Equinox are one of the first companies to benefit from VWS on-site reverification for Trading Standards for Pay-by-Weight services.
Julian Glasspole, Managing Director, VWS said: “Congratulations to Equinox! I’m delighted that our bin-weighing has had such a positive impact on the business and that we could re-certify the whole fleet at their premises. Previously, like other weighing companies, trading standards had to carry out the weights and measures verification for each and every vehicle at our workshops. Now, all of our engineers are UK Weighing Federation trained and we have achieved all the necessary Quality and Management accreditations to verify our own equipment. It’s much more efficient for our customers and for us.”
In addition to using dynamic bin-weighing from VWS, Equinox uses a bespoke software system designed specifically for waste management and recycling operators. PurGo from VWS Software Solutions (a division of VWS) is an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software solution that integrates seamlessly with bin-weighing systems as well as other business systems and software packages. It is highly automated, exception driven, intuitive and user friendly.
As a result, Equinox can run a paperless operation, and the recording, data reporting and invoicing of collections is much more efficient.
Andy Gibbons added: “The combination of the bin weighing systems and Purgo has transformed the business by enabling us to run a much more accurate operation. The drivers all have PDAs so we can track every vehicle and get live feedback from the crews. If there are any issues with a collection, suc
h as no access or an over-filled bin, we can deal with it immediately. All the data and information is at our fingertips, which is very helpful when answering any customer queries.”