Resource Hub is helping waste operators make the most of what they do, through audit.
Rural and regional waste operators face unique challenges – from tight budgets to logistical hurdles. But what if the answers to these problems are hidden in plain sight?
‘Audit’, says Lacey Webb, Resource Hub Founder and Director, can be a scary word. But it doesn’t have to be. Rather, it’s an opportunity for waste facility operators to better understand their business process.
And some of the biggest beneficiaries of audits are rural and regional operators.
“A lot of our team come from regional areas, and understand the critical shortages regions face, such as logistics, resourcing and budget,” Lacey says.
“Our team is here to engineer opportunities for change for regional waste facilities through identifying what’s not working, what’s actually causing problems and helping with all those small steps that don’t have to be overly complicated.
“When we talk about the waste industry, we often focus on the critical things such as machinery, bins or constructing a landfill cell. But sometimes you can get a lot of bang for your buck by focusing on the front of house or back-office challenges.”
Resource Hub is an Australia-wide waste management consultancy, focused on broadening what is best practice in the industry. The team supports waste operators and Local Government Areas across Australia to help them become more financially and operationally effective and to comply with waste levy and environmental regulations.
As part of a business process audit, the team deep dives into operational processes, financials (including internal and external revenue and cost assessment), transactional system data and business process risks.
Earlier this year Resource Hub also unveiled AUDRRI, a software program that analyses a facility’s processes and benchmarks them against best practice standards of operational and regulatory efficiency and effectiveness.
Why audits matter
Oscar Gallagher, Resource Hub Senior Consultant, says it’s important operators measure their performance and review their ‘business as usual’ to stay compliant in an industry that is changing rapidly.
“Even those operators who are smaller in size or not focused on new infrastructure and resource recovery technology can find many ways to continue to improve their internal efficiencies,” he says.
“The most effective audits we do aren’t with big clients, they’re with smaller rural or regional operators. In those areas, especially in local government, the waste management operator might be the supervisor, the operational co-ordinator, and even finance person. It’s a case of getting things done, with little time to focus on strategic goals. There’s lots of time to be stuck in the weeds.
“Auditing helps to identify the opportunities that exist in the everyday, so managers can have time to think about strategic goals.
“It gives clients a starting point, and a ‘to do’ list that we work through with them to identify quick wins, the things they maybe don’t have the experience to deliver, or the items that are critical but might require larger-scale organisational decisions. It’s also a great starting point for managers coming into a new role or site.”
Success stories
While audits follow a modular process, they’re all different, tailored to a client’s needs and budget.
Oscar recently conducted an audit with an LGA in the north-east of the Riverina area of New South Wales, for an operator that was still paper based for its gatehouse processes. The operator’s finance team was reconciling upwards of more than 100 vehicle movements a day at the facility.
Oscar says not only was the process open to human error but provided challenges when making operational decisions.
“If everything is on paper, how are you collating that information onto one usable centralised database or spread sheet? How are you able to make good business decisions?”
The audit identified a need for improved systems for capturing data, including the number of vehicles, type of waste, and simplified annual reporting and compliance. The next step is to assist council to speak to the right vendors and gain efficiency through new processes and systems.
Resource Hub recently completed a concept redesign for Lithgow City Council, located two hours west of Sydney.
Oscar says the council wanted to improve customer experience, this was the next step following transfer station refinement, but also wanted to ensure that if its facility was to become leviable in future years, any changes made to the site layout now would align with future regulatory requirements.
Narrabri Shire Council had been doing things the same way for a long time, despite a change in team members and processes. An audit revealed a need for more resourcing, staff training and changes to data collection.
Another council in Tasmania was aware it had a lot of paperwork but was not aware that three people were touching the same paperwork, trying to achieve the same outcome.
Oscar says administration risk, such as duplication of paperwork, double handling, and a lack of ownership of administration functions, is often overlooked within an organisation.
Other risks include infrastructure, compliance (such as incorrect claimed levies), financial (including lost revenue opportunities and incorrect invoicing), and regulatory.
At the completion of each of these audits, operators received a detailed report that itemised each risk type and area of assessment. There are also recommendations for mitigating those risks included.
Taking the next step
The goal, Lacey says, is to be the go-to set of hands for industry partners and local government.
“We’re here to lend a hand, first and foremost, especially when talking rural and regional,” she says.
“Often what comes out of these audits isn’t a bunch of work for Resource Hub or the council, it’s about finding the right people who understand the regional challenges to help our customers in the right way. One audit at a time.”
For more information, visit:
www.resourcehub.com.au
