Introduction:

In this section, we’ll share the latest news from the bookinglab HWRC community.

The goal here is to inform you of any product updates or community-led initiatives and help you connect with councils tackling common challenges.

Here are the top four highlights from January:

1. We’re excited to welcome the first Scottish council to our ever-growing HWRC community.
2. Essex County Council successfully launched its new HWRC Booking System.
3. Kent County Council’s HWRC Account functionality for is almost ready for launch.
4. We’ve introduced exciting new features and enhancements to our DIY Waste Module.

Our community is expanding.

We are delighted to welcome the first Scottish council to our ever-growing HWRC community!

Over the coming weeks, we’ll collaborate with the council to implement our market-leading HWRC Booking Service across four regional sites, transforming how waste services are managed and experienced.

We’re excited to see this project take shape—stay tuned for more detailed updates as it progresses!

Essex County Council successfully launched its HWRC Booking System.

Essex County Council has successfully rolled out our market-leading HWRC Booking Service to 22 sites across the county, transforming Household Waste Recycling Centre management and delivering a smoother, more efficient experience for residents.

In the first two weeks alone, Essex has averaged over 4,500 bookings a day, with feedback from both residents and site staff overwhelmingly positive.

Congratulations to everyone at ECC, and a big shoutout to the bookinglab product team for an outstanding job—fantastic work all around!

Functionality update: Kent County Council’s HWRC Accounts.

As part of Kent’s commitment to continuous service improvement, they gather user feedback through bi-annual consultation surveys. These surveys let residents rate their experiences and suggest ways to enhance the service.

The latest survey data revealed a strong demand from residents for MyAccount functionality. To address this, we’ve worked with the Kent team to develop a HWRC registration workflow and MyAccount features that will enable:

1. Residents to avoid re-entering their data for each booking
2. Easier management of permits and vehicle vouchers
3. More efficient handling of usage limits and address lookups
4. Registration of multiple addresses/vehicles to manage waste disposal for dependents
5. Improved visibility on waste origins

For residents who prefer not to create an account, the ‘continue as a guest’ option ensures the service remains accessible.

We’re excited to share that this functionality is now almost ready for deployment, with the first release scheduled for February.

We’ve added new features and functionality.

As part of our product development process, we actively engage with our user community to gather feedback, ensuring our product continues to lead the way in HWRC booking solutions.

This month, we’re excited to share several upcoming enhancements to our DIY Waste Module:

• Enhanced messaging in the check-in app: Staff will now be better informed about chargeable waste.
• Advanced reporting features: Site staff will now get deeper insights with improved reporting on planned waste versus actual waste and paid waste.
• More flexibility for amendments: Additional capabilities to accurately capture the actual amount of waste brought on-site and the corresponding charges.

Note:

Your input is key to ensuring our HWRC booking system continues to evolve with your needs. If you have ideas for our next development cycle, we’d love to hear them! Feel free to share your suggestions at info@bookinglab.co.uk.