Following on from the latest guidance from the Government and Health authorities regarding COVID-19, a number of measures have been put in place for some Council services, including the EMERGREEN project partner in Northern Ireland, Derry City and Strabane District Council.

There have been some changes and reductions to services as they worked to safeguard both the general public and staff. But efforts continue to be made to deliver the key essential services we all need to function as a society.

Due to these amendments to services, it is vitally important that Councils communicate these changes to the public to ensure they receive up to date information on a regularly basis, with the increase demand of this rapidly changing situation.

DCSDC has already subscribed to a recycling app, Bin-ovation, to improve communications on Zero Waste Circular Economy. This included push campaigns online (through corporate social media channels) and offline (Council Magazine) driving local citizens to download the app. Currently during this pandemic, the bin-ovation app is an invaluable technological communication tool used to provide information the public needed about all Council services, such as bin collections and Recycling centres changes to later then to closure, and regularly updated the public with push notifications. It also signposted the user to DCSDC's corporate website for more information on Covid-19.

"These are challenging and uncertain times, and the bin-ovation allows us to communicate and inform the public of information on services and Covid-19 updates", explain our project partners in Northern Ireland.