City of Wolverhampton Council’s recycling and waste department has been awarded a Customer Service Excellence accreditation award.

Bin crew, staff who work at tip sites, those who work in the bulky item collection team and others, were given the Customer Service Excellence accreditation by SGS Ltd, a world leading inspection and certification company.

Councillor Steve Evans, Cabinet Member for City Environment at City of Wolverhampton Council, said: “The annual assessment isn’t an easy certificate to gain from an independent assessor, there’s a lot of hard work that must happen all year round in order to be able to get the accreditation. Which is why I’d like to thank all staff who work in the recycling and waste department, including operatives, those who work at household recycling centres, and the waste management team - it's been a real team effort to gain this recognition.

“The waste and recycling service are responsible for refuse collection and disposal of appox 104,000 households across Wolverhampton, and recently underwent significant changes to ensure the smooth and efficient delivery of the service. The team are doing great work and will always go the extra mile when it comes to customer service and making sure residents’ needs are dealt with.”

Areas of good practice for the department include:

• signing-up to the Recycle Charter and combining this with working with local schools
• the way the service feeds information to support the customer services team and in turn residents
• learning from complaints and feedback then responding accordingly
• communicating issues on the ground through meetings and daily briefings

SGS Customer Service Excellence Assessor, Di Smith, presented the award to staff at Hickman Avenue depot in Wolverhampton. Di said: “The service has achieved the Customer Services Excellence Standard, bringing them in line with the wider team and other teams in the council. During the assessment the council showed its commitment to consult with customers and to continually improve its services. The communication with customers stood out as always being a priority, even on the most challenging of issues. I congratulate the whole team on this fantastic achievement.”

More information about recycling and waste can be found at www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/recycling  

Picture Caption: Waste and Recycling team gain Customer Service Excellence award. R to L: Heather Fletcher - Waste Monitoring Officer, Cllr Steve Evans - Cabinet Member for City Environment, Di Smith - SGS Customer Service Excellence Assessor, Deb Higgs and Jason Smith - depot staff.