EXCLUSIVE: SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK has emerged as frontrunner to secure a long-term collection contract for the Somerset Waste Partnership.
The contract, called Recycle More, aims to deliver “significant savings” to the local authorities in the Partnership. This will be by reduced contract costs, lower disposal costs and extra recycling credits for district council.
A Somerset Waste Partnership collection crew. Kerbside sorting is expected to continue when the new contract begins
A formal announcement of the successful contractor for the work is expected soon and neither Somerset or Suez would comment on the situation.
A report to the Somerset Waste Board highlights how the contract award aims to achieve innovation from a contract who will take on the existing staff from current service provider Kier on 28 March 2020.
Risk
A 50/50 risk sharing mechanism has been developed under the contract plan. There will also be a ‘Somerset Waste Enhanced Environmental Performance’ fund (SWEEP) which will be jointly funded by the Partnership and the contractor through a top-slice of 2% of the recycling income due to partners and 2% due to the contractor – around £140,000 each year.
The Partnership says that Recycle More will enable the public to recycle even more at the kerbside, “adding in the following materials to the weekly collection (with additional containment provided – likely to be a reusable sack):
- Plastic pots, tubs and trays (including black plastic)
- Food and beverage cartons (e.g. tetrapaks)
- Small electrical equipment (e.g. a kettle or toaster)
- Household Batteries
Current recycling provision on a weekly basis includes: food, paper, glass, cans, aerosols, plastic bottles, cardboard, foil, textiles and shoes. Garden waste, clinical waste, bulky waste and assisted collections will be continued broadly as they are now.
Kerbside sorting via Romaquip vehicles is expected to continue. The Partnership speaks in its report of how the contract will “maintain the kerbside sort system that is so crucial to the excellent environmental performance that SWP already achieves, with over 90% of our materials reprocessed in the UK each week. With so much more recycled each week, the frequency of residual waste will be reduced to every three weeks.”
Evaluation
The award to Suez UK, subject to confirmation, will be on the basis of a 60% of the score on the price and financial evaluation and 40% on quality.
Suez has experience near to Somerset of kerbside collections and is a strong regional player in south west England.
For example, in East Devon the local authority has won praise from recycling minister Therese Coffey for its recycling services which are run by Suez. There the authority also operates on a 50/50 income split from cardboard, plastics and metals collected locally.
Suez external affairs director, Adam Read, recently noted that in East Devon “the eyes of the UK are watching you eager to learn about how to deliver 60% recycling and make 3 weekly residual collections painless for officers, elected members and crews alike”.
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
