Universities award pay-by-weight waste contracts to Onyx

And, in Westminster the company is making recycling easier for householders with a new campaign providing residents with recycling baskets.

 “It is fantastic news for the company that we can strengthen our customer basis with addition of these prestigious contracts.”  – Graham Shaw, national sales manager for Onyx

The Universities of Birmingham and Hertfordshire have awarded three-year contracts to the waste management company. The Birmingham contract has an option to extend for a further two years, while the Hertfordshire contract has an option for a fourth year.

Onyx has invested in new technology systems from Sulo to enable contracts to be run on a pay-by-weight basis. Commercial waste collected will be charged “solely on the actual weight of the waste in the container” each week, the company said.

The new contract for Birmingham means the university will be able to separate and recycle materials that had previously gone to the Tyseley incinerator.

Campus

Onyx has provided colour-coded rear end loader containers for the main campus site and satellite areas at Hertfordshire, to collect cardboard, plastic, glass, metal and wood for recycling as well as general waste.

Commenting on the awards of the contracts, Onyx’s national sales manager, Graham Shaw, said: “It is fantastic news for the company that we can strengthen our customer basis with addition of these prestigious contracts.

“We already operate services on behalf of a number of venues throughout the country, so it is very pleasing to enhance our portfolio with these new contracts and confirm our position as a leading player in the industry,” he added.

Westminster 

Meanwhile, as part of its municipal waste contract with Westminster City council, Onyx is to deliver an extra 40,000 recycling baskets to local residents to boost recycling.

“This rolling out of baskets to another 40,000 households shows how determined we are to ensure recycling becomes a way of life.”  – Cllr Alan Bradley, City of Westminster

The initiative, which began this month, is part of a drive to make recycling for residents as accessible as possible and to help reduce the amount of recycling waste placed in the rubbish bin.

A participation survey carried out in December 2004 helped identify properties which are not currently participating in the doorstep scheme. An existing recycling crew will be delivering a recycling basket to each of the households, while an extra crew will be introduced to a new round deal with the anticipated increase in demand.

Councillor Alan Bradley, cabinet minister for street environment, said: “This rolling out of baskets to another 40,000 households shows how determined we are to ensure recycling becomes a way of life for as many of our residents as possible.”

Onyx has said that it wants to make recycling in Westminster as easy as possible in order for the borough to reach its 2005/06 recycling rate of 18%. The borough was one of the select 21% of London councils that met their statutory recycling targets in 2003/04, recycling 13% of household waste.