Suez Recycling and Recovery UK and environmental consultancy Eunomia have published a social value guide for local authorities.
The guide sets out ‘key actions’ for local authorities to follow (click to open the report in a new tab)
Called ‘increasing the social value delivered by environmental services contracts: A Guide for local authorities’ the guide aims to support local authorities in implementing social value at each stage of waste and recycling contracts.
This includes the planning, preparation, tender and procurement processes.
The guide provides a series of recommendations for each stage of a contract, with “key actions” providing a framework for local authorities to follow.
Suez said this would help councils to “maximise the benefits” delivered by environmental services to the communities they work in.
It follows recent additions to the Social Value Act, which were introduced to ensure that central government spending does the maximum it can to create jobs, protect the environment and advance social wellbeing.
‘Essential services’
John Scanlon, chief executive officer for SUEZ recycling and recovery UK, said: “The essential services that our sector delivers touch every household in the UK, making it a natural candidate to create and embed meaningful social value in local communities up and down the country. Social value has grown to become a fundamental element of our business strategy at SUEZ and has the potential to play a key role in a green recovery from the pandemic.”
“It’s imperative that businesses large and small challenge themselves to identify what more they can do – from enhancing the career aspirations of the next generation and creating local employment opportunities, to improving biodiversity and coordinating community litter picks – there are actions we can all take to benefit the communities in which we operate. This guide highlights the significant opportunities that lie ahead”.
Actions
The first key action set out in the guide is to “engage wherever possible with the community, internal stakeholders and potential external partners” to engage in the market.
The second key action is to align social value priorities with the local authority’s corporate social value policy.
And, the third, is to consider retaining flexibility in “the definition and management” of social value being delivered.
‘Inspired’
David Pietropaoli, head of procurement at Eunomia added that Eunomia was “pleased” to be asked by SUEZ to research and produce the guide.
He said: “For many years we have helped local authorities with re-tenders of their long-term, highvalue waste collection and recycling services contracts, helping them to push to deliver the maximum social value possible through contract delivery. We hope that by sharing the findings of this research, more local authorities will be inspired to explore the opportunities available for delivering social value in their environmental services contracts, using this guide as a framework to do so.”
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
