Rocky View County has announced a new smart phone app that provides residents with two-way communication regarding waste collection and recycling services in their neighbourhood.
According to Jennifer Koole, the lead solid waste advisor for Rocky View County, she and her team – which oversees the County’s garbage and recycling services and programs – have been working diligently to provide residents with access to the new app as part of the County’s move toward modernizing its waste services.
She said the mobile app provides users information about what should go in each bin, their waste and recycling collection schedule, and it even provides an interactive recycling guide.
“They can also report issues back to us as well, or ask us questions if we’ve missed something that’s not on the list of recyclable materials,” Koole said. “It’s a more instant way of communicating with Rocky View County about waste and recycling.”
She added the app, which was launched in December, also provides the County with the ability to send out instant notifications to residents regarding special events or alerts specific to the address of the subscriber.
“So, if you live in Langdon where there’s curbside pickup and there’s an issue with collection, we can send out an alert to people that subscribed to the app to notify them immediately,” she said.
Koole added prior to the app, residents had a much harder time trying to determine the recyclability of certain materials, or find information on where to dispose of them via the County’s website.
“We found this [app] much simpler and much easier and more user-friendly for people to find out their information and to find out information specific to the geography where they live with schedules and notifications,” she said.
“I think we’re all getting used to more timely communications with our devices.”
She added with the app, the County can provide an increased level of service and better meet the expectations of residents. Koole said since the launch of the tool last month, the County has seen a “good uptake” of residents downloading and making use of it.
“Almost 100 people have signed up for the app and ask for notifications and use it, and we’ve had people report issues to us as well,” she said.
“So, people have embraced it so far with even just very little communication that we’ve done [about it].”
The Rocky View County Waste Guide app is available for both Apple and Android devices. Residents interested in downloading the app are encouraged to search ‘Rocky View County Waste Guide’ in their respective app store.
Koole said she hopes the app will aid in improving the customer service relationship between the County and its residents.
“We are hoping we’ll have continued uptake of the app, and more people will use it as their primary means of communicating with us and vice-versa, so that we can have that interactive relationship with our residents and that it will in turn decrease contamination in our recycling,” she said.
Carmen Cundy, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @carmenrcundy
