Digitization: Dirt is removed within 48 hours of notification
23.02.2023 – Illegal waste piles, which are piling up more and more frequently in the city, are to be cleared by the waste disposal teams within 48 hours. The city had set itself this target for the end of 2021. In order to make this a reality, a large-scale restructuring and, above all, digitalization process was initiated last year, on which the Clean Offenbach Stabsstelle, the Stadtwerke Offenbach Public Order Office, the Stadtservice of the Stadtwerke Offenbach and the Digitalization Stabsstelle worked together well and efficiently.
"At the beginning of 2023, all interfaces were programmed and the project was completed to such an extent that we can now report a successful start," says Martin Wilhelm, the city councillor responsible for Stadtservice.
"As a welcome side effect, not only the waste disposal companies are now on site more quickly, but also the waste detectives who identify the perpetrators of illegal dumping for prosecution," emphasizes Paul-Gerhard Weiß, Head of Public Order.
"94 percent of all reported waste deposits have been removed by Stadtservice employees within two days since the beginning of the year," says Wilhelm. "That's a very good start. The success is primarily based on a significant thinning out of the previous interfaces in the old system for processing reports of litter. Basically, nothing has changed for people, except for the positive aspect that the waste is gone more quickly. The ways in which illegal waste piles can be reported remain the same as always: via the defect reporter, the customer service of the municipal utilities, the public order office and the neighborhood walkers." The communication channels, some of which are still analog, have been eliminated.
Better quality of life in the immediate living environment
90 percent of the costs for the interface programming were covered by subsidies, which were raised by the Stabsstelle Digitalisierung under the leadership of Lord Mayor Dr. Felix Schwenke. Mayor Schwenke emphasizes: "Of course there will be mistakes in practice. But the basic rule is: if someone reports dirt, it will now disappear within 48 hours. Citizens can use this example to see in concrete terms how digitalization can help to improve the quality of life in their immediate living environment. That was exactly my goal when I set up the Stabsstelle Digitalisierung: to support the various offices and companies in the city administration in improving processes step by step and then digitizing them so that the people of Offenbach receive better services."
Paul-Gerhard Weiß, Head of the Department of Public Order, agrees: "In addition to digitalization, the decisive factor was improving the process in advance. The employees involved in the digitalization project to implement the 48-hour dirt route guarantee have taken on the truly commendable task of untangling and programming the digital, telephone and analogue messages that have grown over the years and are not always straightforward, thus putting them on a target-oriented path." Cumbersome, sometimes manual entries in Excel spreadsheets are a thing of the past, as are the order slips sent to the Stadtservice's "Wild Deposits" team, who then actually pick up the old kitchen cabinets and broken slatted frames and hoist them onto the waste collection vehicle. The employees are now out and about with tablets. Not only do they receive real-time notifications of new piles of illegal waste, they also document that the garbage has been removed with before and after photos. This means that the report also disappears from the defect report.
Waste detectives are now on site faster
The waste detectives from the city's public order department are also quick on the scene. "The sooner our colleagues inspect the piles of garbage, the greater the likelihood of finding a hot lead to the owner," says Paul-Gerhard Weiß, Head of Public Order, adding: "This increases the chance that our waste investigators will be able to stop illegal dumping in good time. In one specific case, our investigators were able to prevent the illegal clearing out of an apartment because they caught the perpetrators in the act. If we had been informed later, the garbage would have been left on the street for the time being and additional, time-consuming investigations would have been necessary. But even if the polluters have already left, it's still good if our waste detectives are aware of such deposits more quickly: Once the piles of garbage have been rummaged through or new bulky waste has been added, valuable clues are blurred."
Even if wild piles of garbage can be disposed of within 48 hours, illegal dumping can be expensive. "Either way, the perpetrators are committing an administrative offense, which we punish with hefty fines. This can quickly add up to four-figure sums that really hurt," says Paul-Gerhard Weiß.