The largest municipal recycling company in Europe with around 5,550 employees found itself in a difficult situation. A new fee model was to be developed. A tricky issue: the idea was to break with the system. So far, no one had dared to tackle this project. This was only possible with the help of an impartial external manager. The business graduate took on the task as a permanent Chief Finance Officer (CFO) on a temporary basis.
Fees may only increase up to the rate of inflation
Characterized by a strong employee side and a politically difficult situation, it was a challenge to ensure reliable and efficient waste disposal. One condition was to allow the fees for waste disposal to rise by no more than the rate of inflation. Rising personnel costs, an expanded product portfolio and a fee model that was financed solely through household waste threatened to jeopardize the continuity of tariffs.
In a first step, the CFO obtained the commitment of the entire management team and the supervisory board, after which he formed a project team. In addition to Finance and Controlling, IT, Sales, Marketing, Operations and Corporate Communications were also represented.
Creating public acceptance for the new pricing model
The biggest challenge was to create public acceptance. External stakeholders such as trade unions, tenants' associations, housing associations and politicians were involved at a very early stage in order to assess the feasibility of the project and test acceptance. A great deal of sensitivity was required here.
Household-related basic fee successfully introduced as "eco fee"
After one and a half years of the project, a household-related basic fee was successfully introduced under the term "eco fee". The changeover affected 1 million households. A marketing concept was rolled out to accompany the process on the customer side. There was no external resistance and tariff consistency was secured for the time being. With tight project management, it was possible to coordinate the tasks internally.
In the meantime, the CFO had identified further challenges for the company. This was a strategic reorientation towards ecological waste management; with the new tariff model, the prerequisites had now been created.
