The council has instead opted to take the work in-house, after claiming that ‘no financially viable options’ could be found to continue working with the company. Powys predicts that the move could bring about savings of between £400,000 and £700,000 per year.
Cae Post, which was set up in 1986, has carried out recycling operations on behalf of the council since 2002.
The social enterprise collects recyclables via a multi-stream system that includes a red box for metal cans, aerosols and plastic bottles, an aqua blue box for glass jars and bottles, and a dark blue box for newspapers and magazines. Cae Post also collects cans and plastic from bring-banks around the county.
Materials are collected and sorted at Cae Post’s materials recycling facility at Trewern, which provides work placements to adults with learning disabilities under a separate contract with the council’s Adult and Social Care department, which will continue – unless it is deemed to be ‘no longer feasible’ following the completion of the recycling contract.
Contribution
In a report to councillors last week, officers recognised the ‘historical contribution’ made to recycling in the borough by Cae Post, but claimed that the county approach to recycling ‘has evolved’ in order to maximise targets and minimise expenditure.
The council also claimed that the Cae Post MRF is not able to cope with the increasing range of materials collected at the kerbside, which it claimed had resulted in “…recyclables being diverted to alternative facilities at additional cost to the Council as the facility at Cae Post has already been paid for and hence effectively the Council are paying twice for a service. Furthermore, now that a better quality material is being collected at kerbside, the requirement for such a sorting facility is removed.”
Powys also claimed that the location of the MRF is not ‘strategically effective’ to its infrastructure requirements.
From April 2017, material will instead be taken to one of three bulking facilities at Brecon, Rhayader or Montgomeryshire – with the material then to be sent directly to reprocessors.
Relationship
Commenting on the decision not to renew the contract with Cae Post, Cllr John Powell, Powys’ cabinet member for waste and recycling said: “We have had a long relationship with Cae Post and we thank them for the contribution they have made to recycling in Powys, they have certainly helped us to achieve our targets over the years.
“Recycling in Powys has improved considerably since we originally started working with Cae Post which means that we are now operating on a much larger scale.”
John Harrington, Chair of Trustees at Cae Post, said: “Cae Post has a proud record of efficiency in contributing to waste reduction and recycling in Powys. In 2006 it pioneered rural household kerbside in the county.
“We are now coming to the end of a long collaboration with Powys County Council but Cae Post will continue to develop new activities to achieve its social and environmental aims, as it celebrates 30 years as a social enterprise.”
Cllr John Powell added: “We will continue to work together for the duration of the contract to ensure a seamless transition for the public and I wish Cae Post every success in their future ventures.”
In a statement, Cae Post added that it has developed “a number of other operations and is currently increasing its service to local businesses, schools, charities and other organisations to collect general waste and recyclables.”
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