The procurement is being led by the London borough of Lewisham, which along with the other six councils, is looking to increase the collection of textiles for reuse and recycling across London. The other councils are: Hounslow, Ealing, Harrow, Barnet, Sutton and Camden.
A notice has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) for a contract for a single provider framework agreement, which will last a total of four years. The successful bidder for the contract will be charged with maintaining and emptying textile bring bank sites. The contract is expected to begin in April 2013.
Lewisham said there are five main objectives for the project, which are:
- To increase tonnage diversion from costly landfill sites whilst maximising re-use opportunities;
- To deliver a high quality service for residents in the capital;
- To expand Londons textile bring-site provision;
- To give Londoners more choice and opportunity to recycle their textiles; and,
- To realise the social benefits.
The project was originally launched by London Councils and the London Waste and Recycling Board (LWaRB) earlier this year (see letsrecycle.com story). LWaRB said it will continue its work to assist the development of the contract for interested London boroughs.
Charities
Textile recycling charity TRAID has previously raised concerns about the impact a winner takes all approach could have on charities ability to fundraise through textile collections (see letsrecycle.com story).
However, Lewisham council said the majority of boroughs on the framework will leave existing charity banks and commercial operator contracts in place, meaning that the impact on the charity sector will be minimal.
In addition, a report presented at a LWaRB meeting last week (November 8), by business development officer Gemma Scott noted that LWaRB had met with the Charity Retail Association to discuss their concerns.
The report notes: LWaRB have met with the Charity Retail Association to discuss their concerns about the contract and have agreed that following the Textile Roadmap for London research report, we will work closely with them to promote re-use and recycling of clothing through their network.
Benefits
Councillor Susan Wise, cabinet member for Customer Services at Lewisham, said: Textiles make up around three per cent of the total amount of rubbish that households throw away each year. This either ends up in landfill sites or being incinerated.
Its very important to recognise that this new frameworkisn’t intended to replace the way people already choose toreuse and recycle their unwanted textiles. It’sabout ensuring that all textiles are recycled and reused. Charities will continue to benefit from receiving textiles that can be resold, while there are very real social and environmental benefits to recycling textiles that cant.
The deadline for expressions of interest is December 14 2012, and the deadline for receipt of completed tenders is December 21 2012.
The start of the procurement process follows the publication of research by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) in September 2012 (see letsrecycle.com story). WRAP found that more than 30 of clothing are still being disposed of in landfill sites in the UK every year. Textiles make up 3% of waste which is thrown away by households every year most of which can be recycled, according to WRAP.
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