ChildVision – Looking to the Future
ChildVision is Ireland’s only dedicated centre for children with sight loss, some of whom also have profound sensory impairments and additional disabilities. They provide educational services, clinical services such as occupational therapy, speech therapy and physiotherapy.
Problems existing before starting their sustainability journey
- Before starting to work with The City Bin Co., ChildVision had a one bin fits all system i.e General Waste bins all over the campus. The school were producing over 40 tons of general waste per year, meaning that a large amount waste was ending up in landfill. Heavy general waste bins also meant ChildVision’s waste bills were higher than they should have been.
How did The City Bin Co. help?
- To relieve the pain of high waste bills and to increase ChildVision’s recycling rates, The City Bin Co. installed colour-coded bins for each waste stream across campus.
- We worked with ChildVision to carry out waste segregation training with staff and pupils in order to maintain a greener environment for all involved.
What results have ChildVision seen so far?
- In 2019 Child Vison diverted over 17 tonnes away from landfill with help from The City Bin Co. This was in total 40% of their waste production for 2019. In 2020 Child Vision diverted over 13 tonnes away from landfill*. This was 48% of their total waste production. ChildVision increased recycling rates by 8% from year 1 to year 2 of The Zero Project. Everyone at ChildVision has taken the training on board and the school has become more environmentally aware, doing their upmost to continue to recycle as much as possible.
*COVID affected this school so there were 14 tonnes less produced in total versus 2019 but their recycling habits had improved from year 1, 2019.
Ongoing 2021 Plans
- ChildVision aims to continue improving marginal gains and have set the goal of achieving a recycling rate of over 50% for 2021.
Check out other case study videos…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QrNPue0XM8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXHkX07uLvE
And if you would like more information on the Zero Project, please contact Gary McGrane, The City Bin Co. email gary.mcgrane@citybin.com
Or for a quote for your own project get in touch with us here.
A Day in the Life with Trevor
They’re usually done before the customers even wake up. So, what does a typical day look like for your local binman? We caught up with Trevor Cross from our Dublin team to find out…
So, Trevor, what time did today’s shift start?
TC: The alarm went off around 4.30am this morning. Today was a 5.30 start as we were doing a commercial route. If it was a domestic day, we’d start collecting after 6.30. Yesterday took a bit longer than usual as we helped out another crew in our area.
Are the early starts the worst thing?
TC: No, not really. You get used to them and it’s great to start early and finish early. I love having more time at home with the family, especially with the brighter evenings. Yesterday I took the young fella off for an ice cream when I got home, it’s great to be able to do that. The worst thing can be traffic, or impatient drivers! Sometimes people can get a little unreasonable, but mostly folks understand that we’re just doing our job.
I’m not sure everyone would get used to those early alarm calls! How long have you been with The City Bin Co. & what keeps you there?
TC: I’ve been driving for about 12 years I think, I’d have to check to make sure! What keeps me here? It’s a mix of things really – I like the people I work with, everyone gives each other a dig out when it’s needed. We’ve a good crew in the office looking after us and, of course, the customers. It’s odd to think that they’d become a part of your day, but you really do get to know lots of them and their needs, especially the older customers. Some of them need a bit more help getting the bins out, so we nip in to get them. Different people have different challenges – and we’ll always do a bit extra when we can.
Covid, as well, was a real eye-opener for us. Once we were recognised as an ‘essential service’ we really saw a huge response from our customers. There were signs in windows, kids’ drawings stuck on bins, ‘thank yous’ in chalk on the driveway – all sorts… even Easter eggs! It was important though because it showed us that those customers were doing their bit to keep us safe and that they trusted us to do our bit too.
Are you happy driving, or is there more you want to do?
TC: I’m at my happiest behind the wheel, but there’s plenty of other things to keep me busy apart from the day job. A group of us did a computer course through work a few months ago which I thought I’d struggle with, but it was great to do it as everything is going computerised now. We even got a free laptop as part of it which was fully set up for me with Zoom and Word and all the bits I would need. Since then, we went and a First Aid Responder course online which was really great to do. While I might not be an expert in a medical emergency, but it gave me great confidence to know how to respond if I come across an accident when I’m out on the road! There’s someone in the business who organises these courses for us, so there’s no excuse not to do one or two.
And we’re always adding new services like skips and junk collection, which keeps things interesting. Never a dull moment!
Finally – I asked you earlier what the worst thing was. I think it’s only fair to ask you what the best part of the job is…
TC: The best part? Definitely the customers… the young kids waving to us always makes our day! We even have our own City Bin Juniors club for the little ones, so hopefully, they’ll grow up to be City Bin customers!