The contract award, which was decided at a meeting of the council cabinet yesterday (19 January), around 18 months after it had drawn up a shortlist of bidders for the work (see letsrecycle.com story).
Worth up to an estimated £190 million, the contract has been divided into five lots – spanning household collections, transfer and recycling, HWRC management, garden waste composting services, and residual waste treatment outside of existing arrangements.
Initially running until 2025, there is an option to extend the contract for a further eight years – bringing the total lifetime of the arrangement to 16 years.
Prior to becoming a unitary authority in 2009, refuse and recycling collections were carried out separately by four district authorities in Wiltshire, and the council currently operates its residual, garden, plastic bottle and cardboard wheeled-bin collections in-house in the North, South and East of the county.
Hills already holds a contract to operate kerbside recycling box collections which includes paper, glass and cans across the county as a whole, which was awarded by the former county council in 1996 and is due to expire in 2016.
Wiltshire will move closer towards commingled collections under the new service arrangement, with all plastics, card, paper, glass and cans collected in the blue lidded-bin – and the black box reserved for glass.
A council spokesman told letsrecycle.com that while the collection system would have “cost implications” – it would also see residents recycle a wider range of plastics and boost the authority’s recycling rate, which in 2014/15 stood at 46.5%.
All recyclables will be processed by Hills at its Calne-based materials recycling facility (MRF) in the north of the county, where it already processes the plastic bottles and cardboard received from the council.
Refuse
Hills will also take up collections of garden and residual waste, a service that has historically been provided by FCC Environment in the West Wiltshire area only. This arrangement is due to expire alongside Hills’ previous recycling contract this year – allowing the council to tender for an integrated service to be delivered by a single provider (see letsrecycle.com story).
Wiltshire postponed awarding the contract while it rolled out a £40 annual charge for garden waste collections last year – a controversial move aiming to save the authority around £800,000 per year.
Hills will continue to compost this green waste at its open-windrow facility at Parkgate Farm near Purton.
Around 60,000 tonnes of residual waste per year will also continue to be treated at the MBT Northacre Resource Recovery Centre in Westbury – but a further 50,000 tonnes will still be sent to the Grundon-run Lakeside energy from waste plant in Colnbrook.
Record
Toby Sturgis, cabinet member for waste, said: “I’m very pleased we will have one collection contractor, with a proven track record, to deliver this vital service for our residents in an efficient, effective way.
“Residents will receive a smooth service and be able to recycle even more which is good news. The awarding of the contract will mean certain changes and we will be working with all staff in this area as we move towards this new system in 2017. We will provide residents with further information close to the date for commencement of the new service.”
Mike Webster, group director Hill Waste Solutions, added: “We are delighted to have secured the contract and look forward to providing Wiltshire residents with the same high levels of service and efficiency as we have done for the past 20 years. We will be working closely Wiltshire Council and the outgoing contractors over the coming months to ensure a smooth transition during our mobilisation phase.”
There will be a 10-day standstill period until 30 January, before the award of the public contract can be confirmed and the contract signed.
