Cleanaway wins Chesterfield waste and recycling contract

The contract is worth 1.8 million each year for the six years, and has the option of an additional two years if successful.

The 41,000 households in the Derbyshire borough produced 43,235 tonnes of waste in 2002-03, with 6,184 tonnes (14%) recycled or composted. Growth rates are less than 1% in Chesterfield, although when the council changed its waste refuse service from a sack collection to wheeled bins, council officers said there was an increase in waste collected by 50%.

The new arrangements are expected to be in place by October 2003 and will involve reaching the council's targets set by the government to reach recycling rates of 16% in 2003-04 and 24% in 2005-06. The contract is likely to involve a new fleet of collection vehicles to improve the service, the council has said.

In 2002, the Audit Commission gave the council's “reliable and responsive” in-house service two out of three stars and said it was good with promising prospects for improvement (see letsrecycle.com story).

Costs
However, inspectors noted that at 32 per household, the collection service was among the most expensive in the country, recommending that a private sector contractor be brought in to lower costs. This recommendation led to the tender process and Cleanaway's new contract.

Commenting on the contract, Councillor Keith Morgan, lead member for sustainability and environmental services at Chesterfield, said: “This was not an easy decision and it is very sad that a workforce as good as ours has to be transferred to a private company, albeit a good one, on financial grounds. Before awarding the work to Cleanaway, the Council sought and received assurances, not only that the quality of the services provided to its residents will be improved each year, but also that transferred staff would not lose out on the new arrangement.”

Chesterfield currently offers blue box kerbside collections of glass and cans across the borough as well as blue bag collections of paper every two weeks. The council has also started a green waste collection service for 12,000 households, with the intention of expanding it further this year.