Systems that talk together are essential for waste collection

A socially critical mission for the citizens

Every single day, Hadeland and Ringerike Avfallsselskap AS (HRA) ensure that the waste of almost 70 people is collected and sorted. It's a job they take seriously. They have been doing the job since 000, and in as many as five municipalities you can see HRA's waste disposal trucks steadily over the course of a week. Read the story of how our IT solutions have contributed to your mission!

HRA is a very important part of the citizens' lives. That's because HRA has a social mission that everyone uses, but which many people may forget exists among them. They pick up garbage. Garbage, or in industry parlance; waste, it is important that we handle it correctly. So important that it can affect our earth. In a climate context, it is essential that the waste goes to a place where professionals handle it. The job of the waste company's employees is to collect, receive, sort and handle the waste that the residents of the five municipalities produce every day.

IT creates a well-oiled machine

At the Trollmyra waste station in Jevnaker municipality (1,5 hours from Oslo) we find the head office of HRA. There we meet a committed and knowledgeable lady called Inger Toril Ulnes Borgli. She works in the finance department in HRA and works closely with the IT processes internally. Opposite her office sits our skilled system consultant, Geir Frydenlund. He is at HRA once a week to make sure that the IT systems are talking to each other so that the whole company can work as it should without problems or stoppages.

- Geir has become a fixture here, says Inger Toril with a sly smile. 

Geir has a long track record in the corridors at the waste disposal company. For several years, he has been involved in the IT development HRA has wanted to do. As a company, HRA has been at the forefront of several digitization processes. They were early adopters of cloud services, developed their own app for residents and quickly found that hosting their own servers was pointless. They also adopted several technological solutions to improve their services, including data-driven systems for routing and administration. We have been able to take part in this entire journey, and Geir has contributed as an IT expert and consultant. 

Inger Toril Ulnes Borgli (HRA) and Geir Frydenlund (Braathe) with the Trollmyra waste station behind it.

What does IT mean for the work you do? 

- Good systems and systems that talk to each other are essential for us to get our job done, explains Inger Toril. She does not hesitate to point out the importance of having Geir visit once a week either. She finds that having a consultant on the building removes the threshold for asking questions, solving problems people are having or needs they have just discovered. Then they can address it immediately. 

What can happen if the IT systems do not play together?

- If our IT systems cheat, it can affect an insane number of people. Not only our people in the waste collection trucks and at the stations here with us, but also residents who are certainly very ready for an empty waste container, says Inger Toril. And the citizens cannot come to closed doors, then we do not deliver our services. Therefore, our systems must be ready no matter what, she concludes.

When it comes to IT systems, these are crucial for HRA's day-to-day operations. They use IT for invoicing, routing and communication with the waste collection trucks. This gives them the opportunity to optimize the collection and administration of waste, while keeping track of customer data and reporting to the authorities. 

Inger Toril has full control over what, where and how internally in HRA. She has seen the waste disposal company grow since she joined in 1993. By then the company had existed for 6 months and served five municipalities. Already at that time, the municipalities were early adopters of new thinking about waste. - Thanks to close cooperation with Braathe and Geir, our systems today have a structure that means our downtime is minimal. It enables me to sleep well at night, she says.

Downtime can affect the climate

For the waste disposal company, the climate goals are high. They handle and sort waste, but it is also their job to send it on to professional actors who melt down and recycle everything from plastic to metal. - We are passionate about the climate here. The climate goals are something we aim for every single day, shares Inger Toril passionately. She is passionate about the climate, and it is not without reason that she has worked at HRA for over 30 years.

HRA has taken unique measures to ensure less climate emissions. In 2014, they were even able to supply their own fuel in the form of biogas for their cars. The food waste that residents hand in is turned into biogas several times a day. That biogas is what most of the waste collection trucks run on. Inger Toril can also tell us a fact about the same biogas: Food waste is converted into direct energy, and the energy of just one banana can enable a waste disposal truck to drive 96 metres. It is fantastic!

As a waste disposal company, their subcontractors are an important part of their emissions calculation. That is one of the reasons why they chose us in the previous tender round. Downtime can lead to under-reporting and then it is very demanding to measure where they are in the climate landscape. HRA is required by law to measure all the waste it receives regardless of where it comes from. Their balance, which is essential in this work, must be ready 24/7. If that weight is not connected with the rest, they cannot show how things are in the region. Therefore, they must avoid downtime as far as possible.

Safety comes first, always

As a waste disposal company, HRA has access to a great deal of information. They must know where to collect waste, bill for their services and answer questions residents have. It also means that privacy must be safeguarded and the GDPR legislation must be followed at all times. Safety is therefore more important than ever. If you combine GDPR and the reliance on very little downtime, there are several services HRA must have in place. That's where we come in. As a total supplier, we have access to all kinds of services. From standard services to specially adapted systems. HRA made an active choice and set aside a lot for us. Now they no longer operate their own servers, they have backup services that can be retrieved and several of the systems are automated to ensure uptime 24/7.

Since Geir visits once a week, he also plays an important role. Because over 80% of digital attacks succeed due to human error. You prevent this by having access to IT experts who can help you. At HRA, the goal is that the threshold for asking should be as low as possible, so even if Geir receives quite a few emails from them, it has great value.

Our consultant will be the link between HRA and us. He gets to keep track of what's happening and where the shoe presses at HRA. Geir himself says that trust is the alpha and omega when you work as closely to internal processes as IT does. - As IT experts and total supplier, I have to ensure that HRA has the information they need at all times and that it is correct.

We thank you so much for the trust we have received from HRA!