At its heart is the development and maintenance of the Waste Management Plan. This sets the strategic blueprint for waste management throughout the arc21 area and it is from this that the work of arc21 flows. It provides a roadmap for the services and facilities which the partner councils are likely to need, along with a timetable. arc21 play a pivotal role in ensuring its partner councils progress with delivering the plan, particularly in respect of these major projects and initiatives.
As a Contracting Authority, the core function of arc21 is to procure services and waste infrastructure to meet the needs of partner councils. In addition, arc21 also procure a range of ancillary supplies such as numerous waste bins and containers and kitchen caddies, as well as compostable kitchen caddy liners. Once procured, arc21 act as the managing agent for these contracts and perform important contract management and monitoring duties from both a financial and operational perspective.
In addition to the core and ancillary functions outlined above, arc21 provides an interface for Government departments at a regional and national level, as well as acting as a contact conduit for the private sector and other stakeholders. arc21 provide a forum for the sharing of knowledge among its partner councils which is a useful mechanism for performance management and internal benchmarking.
The partner councils are able to call on arc21 to provide advice and guidance on a plethora of related subjects, and to have access to a wide range of specialist professional advisors.