Verdant Group is to trial alternate weekly collections in Buckinghamshire after winning a seven-year contract worth £10.5 million.

The municipal services specialist will provide refuse and recycling collection services, as well as street cleaning for South Bucks District Council, from November.

The Sevenoaks-based company will carry out its fortnightly bin collection trial with 5,400 of the area's 26,500 households. This will involve collecting residual waste on alternate weeks to garden and kitchen waste. There will also be a fortnightly collection of dry kerbside recyclables which includes paper, card, cans and glass.

This will replace the present arrangements where paper and card is collected every fortnight while glass and cans are picked up every four weeks. This follows a consultation carried out by the council, in which residents said they wanted more recycling services. There also plans to introduce a plastics collection in the future.

Verdant's fleet will collect the material in vehicles which have three different compartments to separate the recyclables. The material is taken to Verdant's Amersham depot where it is prepared for shipment to reprocessors.

The council believes the contract can help boost its recycling rate from its current 33% to at least the national 40% target by 2010. The Buckinghamshire Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy - agreed by the county council and its four districts - has set a recycling rate target of 45% by 2010, rising to 60% by 2025.

The council's environment portfolio holder Councillor Bill Lidgate said: "Waste reduction and recycling are high on our priority agenda, and we are focused on delivering efficient services that provide both value-for-money and quality and improving street cleansing.

"We also emphasise working in partnership with our key contractors, and Verdant's proven track record in building municipal partnerships, plus its flexible, integrated approach, was regarded as best for meeting our current and future needs.

"While there will be some changes to the service, I'm confident Verdant will help make South Bucks a ‘greener' place where residents support cutting waste and improving recycling," he added.

Region

Verdant will replace Biffa as the provider of the services and the £10.5 million contract strengthens the company's presence in the Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire region.

It presently provides refuse and recycling services for Chiltern, South Bedfordshire and Mid Bedfordshire district councils, as well as bring bank management for Aylesbury. The contracts began in April.

Verdant managing director Simon Miles said: "This latest contract win again underlines Verdant's growing reputation as a highly responsive provider of quality municipal services.

"Our work with South Bucks will benefit from significant synergies with our existing operations in the region, and I'm confident that our service focus will deliver what South Bucks District Council and its residents want," he added.