Identifiers

Identifiers are the way that humans and machines can know that a particular thing is definitely that thing. In the context of Open3R, there are different ways of talking about the various things involved. A member of the public may refer to a particular HWRC as ‘Carrington tip’, but a local authority waste officer may know it as ‘Woodhouse Lane Recycling Centre’. In a database it may be recorded as ‘Woodhouse Ln Rec Ctre’. While these are all referring to the same thing, it could be hard for a human to know that they are the same, and pretty much impossible for a computer.

To help get around this, we use identifiers. These are codes that we use to unambiguously reference a particular thing in our database. These identifiers must be unique, and to make sure of this, there are a few tricks we can use when deciding on an identifier. The main one is, wherever possible, to use an identifier from another source. An example of this would be for operators of HWRCs, who are companies, and therefore have entries in the Companies House database. By using the Companies House identifier for these operators, we can be certain the code is unique, and we know that we can join together different local authorities’ datasets to analyse which companies operate sites across the country. A bonus here is that using the Companies House ID means an analyst can access additional information about the operator using the Companies House API, such as the date that the company was incorporated, or its filing history.

Some identifiers are linked to the controlled lists – and again these can be used to look up additional information about a thing - Local Authorities being one example.

Below are the proposed identifiers proposed for this standard.

Recycling and waste site identifier

Each RWS needs a unique identifier, and this should be created by the publishing organisation. Usually, publishing organisations will already have identifiers for the RWSs for which it is responsible. These are likely to be in use in CRM systems, waste management systems, or other databases. Although these identifiers are likely to be unique within the publishing organisation, there is a risk that two publishing organisations may use the same identifier for two different RWSs. To avoid this issue, the identifier is prefixed with the publishing organisation’s unique identifier. To construct the identifier follow these steps:

1. Start with the text open3r-. This means the identifier relates to the Open3R standard.

2. Add the code from the RWS type controlled list e.g. for Household Waste Recycling Centres, this would be hwrc-

3. Add the three letter code of the country that the owner is in:

   • England: eng-
   • Scotland: sct-
   • Wales: pla-
   • Northern Ireland: nir-

4. Add the three letter code for the owner from the local authorities controlled list

5. Add your organisation’s unique identifier for the RWS

As an example, if Trafford local authority has the unique identifier 1234 for Woodhouse Lane Recycling Centre, then the unique identifier for that site in this standard would be open3r-hwrc-eng-trf-1234

If the HWRC is a mobile tip and changes locations, the standard can accommodate this by adding a location tag to the above identifier.

1. Add loc and a unique number

As an example, if Trafford local authority has the unique identifier 1234 for Woodhouse Lane Recycling Centre which changes location, then the unique identifier for one site in this standard would be open3r-hwrc-eng-trf-1234-loc1 and the next site would be open3r-hwrc-eng-trf-1234-loc2.

Local Authority Identifiers

Local authority identifiers should be constructed in the following way:

1. Start with the text ‘open3r-localauth-‘

2. Add the three letter code of the country that the local authority is in:

   • England: eng-
   • Scotland: sct-
   • Wales: pla-
   • Northern Ireland: nir-

3. Add the three letter code from the local authorities controlled list

For example, the code for Trafford would be open3r-localauth-eng-trf

Area Served

When providing separate information about the area served by a HWRC, the identifier should be constructed in the following way:

1. Start with the prefix open3r-area-

2. Add the three letter code of the country that the owner is in:

   • England: eng-
   • Scotland: sct-
   • Wales: pla-
   • Northern Ireland: nir-

3. Add the three letter code for the owner from the local authorities controlled list

4. Add a unique code to differentiate this area from others that your organisation might publish

As an example, if Trafford published data about the area served by Woodhouse Lane Recycling Centre, they would use the identifier open3r-area-eng-trf-a001

Operator identifiers

Using common identifiers for RWS operators will enable analysis of aggregated data, such as counting sites by operator across the country. Where the operator is a limited company, then the Companies House identifier should be used.

Transport Restrictions

When providing separate information about the transport restrictions at a HWRC, the identifier should be constructed in the following way:

1. Start with the prefix open3r-trans-

2. Add the three letter code of the country that the owner is in:

   • England: eng-
   • Scotland: sct-
   • Wales: pla-
   • Northern Ireland: nir-

3. Add the three letter code for the owner from the local authorities controlled list

4. Add your organisation’s unique identifier for the HWRC

5. Add a unique code to differentiate this area from others that your organisation might publish

As an example, if Trafford published data about their transport restrictions for small vehicles by Woodhouse Lane Recycling Centre, they would use the identifier open3r-trans-eng-trf-1234t001