Accessibility at Waste Disposal Barnet

Waste Disposal Barnet is committed to making our waste and recycling information, booking services, and local guidance easy to use for everyone. We want residents, visitors, and local businesses in the Barnet area to be able to access our digital services independently, including people who use assistive technologies or need alternative formats.

Our accessibility commitment

We aim for our website and online services to comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 at the AA standard. These guidelines explain how to make online content more accessible for disabled people and more user friendly for everyone. We view accessibility as a continual process and regularly review our content, design, and code to reduce barriers.

Our goal is that people using the Waste Disposal Barnet website can find information about collections, recycling, bulky waste, and local reuse options without facing unnecessary obstacles, regardless of device, browser, or level of technical experience.

How the site supports accessibility

The Waste Disposal Barnet website is designed to be usable with a range of assistive tools and different ways of interacting with the screen. This includes screen readers, keyboard-only navigation, screen magnifiers, and voice input software. We focus on clear structure, consistent navigation, and simple language wherever possible.

We use headings, lists, and descriptive text so that users can move through pages in a logical way. We also avoid relying on colour alone to convey important information, and we seek to maintain sufficient contrast between text and background to assist users with low vision or colour blindness.

Screen-reader support

Our pages are built to work with screen-reading software that converts text to speech or braille. We aim to provide meaningful page titles, clear headings, and descriptive labels for forms and buttons, so that users can understand and operate the site without needing to see the screen.

Images that convey important information are given text alternatives so that screen-reader users can understand their purpose. Where decorative images are used, we try to ensure they do not create unnecessary noise for assistive technology users.

Keyboard navigation

The Waste Disposal Barnet website is intended to be fully usable with a keyboard alone, without a mouse or trackpad. Users should be able to move through links, menus, and form fields in a logical order using the Tab, Shift and arrow keys. Interactive elements are designed to show a visible focus state so that users can see where they are on the page.

We test key parts of our online waste disposal services using keyboard-only navigation. Where we identify issues that make navigation confusing or difficult, we work to correct them as soon as reasonably possible.

Ongoing improvements and limits

We regularly review the Waste Disposal Barnet website to check for accessibility issues and to improve the experience for all users in the Barnet area. Some legacy content or documents may not yet fully meet WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines. When we update or replace this material, we aim to improve its accessibility.

If you find any part of the site difficult to use, please contact us so we can investigate and, where possible, fix the issue or offer an alternative way to access the information.

Requesting information in an accessible format

If you need waste disposal information in a different format, such as large print, easy read, audio recording, or another language, you can contact our accessibility team. Tell us the web address of the content you need, the format you require, and how we can best send it to you. We will review your request and aim to respond within a reasonable time.

Contacting us about accessibility

If you have questions about the accessibility of the Waste Disposal Barnet website, experience any difficulty using our online services, or wish to make a suggestion for improvement, you can contact our customer support team. When you get in touch, please describe the problem in as much detail as you can, including the page you were using, what you were trying to do, and any assistive technology you use. This information helps us understand the issue and work towards a solution that benefits all users.