In sports psychology, we talk a lot about awareness, understanding yourself and the mechanisms of how you work. What are my strengths and weaknesses? Without knowing these, it is very difficult to pinpoint what to actually work on. It is also very difficult to evaluate what progress, if any, you make when you then work on your qualities. This piece of text could describe Zlatan or the recycling room at Bergmansgatan 4-6 in Mölndal.
So when the recycling room says "I don't feel well, I need help", we ask them to expand on their thoughts and explain everything in detail. So that in the next step we can gather the right team, to solve the right problem, and thus help the recycling room become its best self *hmm* room.
Come along now and we'll tell you how Bintel makes his diagnoses.
Helping a group of recycling rooms on the right track, getting them to find their groove, is often best done by working across sectors. When experts from waste management companies, housing associations and Bintel work closely together. For recycling rooms in particular, the disease picture can be varied and complex, making cross-border collaboration particularly important.
When working with recycling rooms, we have the greatest focus on reducing Residual waste. This is often the most expensive fraction in economic terms, and the one with the highest carbon footprint for the collection point. If you succeed with this fraction, then you have come a long way.
Our process towards happiness and prosperity can be described by the following steps
Baseline (mapping phase)
Bintel works in an iterative process, which, like the processes of psychology, begins with awareness or a mapping phase. During this period, we collect measurement data from the environmental spaces and perform a number of different analyses. Among other things, we get clarity on Waste volume (or weight), levels and emptying intervals, etc., which are then compared with various key figures that Bintel has worked out together with waste management companies around our country.
The analyses clarify the conditions for sorting and how well different fractions are sorted out at a collection point. After this baseline measurement, we know which collection points are sorting well and which need urgent help, we also see which fraction is in most urgent need of help and often the root causes of the problems.
So we are now aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the recycling room. We can therefore also learn from the strengths and now have the opportunity to improve the weaknesses.
Insights and actions (intervention and evaluation phase)
The developmental stages of the process, or the intervention phase of psychology, usually involve the waste management companies' waste strategists, as they have a lot of knowledge from the industry.
Each intervention is carried out separately, followed by a new measurement period. In this way, the intervention is isolated, and its impact can be evaluated. What in our metaphor is called the evaluation phase.
The recycling rooms is now gradually evolving to sort better, which means a lower cost for the housing company and a lower impact on our environment.
With the above processes, you can influence how you function and interact with the world around you. However, it is equally important to find out how the world is changing and how I can change with it. If you are a Recycling room, data gives you insights regarding changes in residents' waste generation, for example because new tenants with a different sorting habit have moved in, or that larger megatrends like buying behaviour actually change over time. You get a chance to be proactive and change behaviour or the opportunity to change and stay in sync with trends.
We have made hundreds of waste diagnoses, and helped sorting stations across Sweden to improve their health. Don't walk around feeling hopeless, help is at hand. We know that behind a tough façade of poor sorting and resignation, there is often an environmental hero hiding.
