Operations & enforcement
What is a collection round?
A collection round is the planned sequence of collections a vehicle makes in a shift. It is the unit that crews, vehicles, customers and evidence of service are organised around.
It is where compliance and commerce meet. The round determines what was collected, from whom, in what order and at what time, which is the data behind both the invoice and the transfer note.
Rounds decay. Customers are added, sites close, volumes change, and a round that was efficient when it was designed carries accumulated detours nobody has revisited.
Exceptions are the useful data. A missed collection, a contaminated bin or an inaccessible site recorded at the point it happens is a fact; reconstructed at the depot it is a recollection.
What goes wrong in practice
- Exceptions reported verbally and never recorded, so disputes have no evidence.
- Rounds never reviewed after customers are added or lost.
- Service evidence produced from the plan rather than from what the crew actually did.