The extension, which is still subject to approval, will see the initial 25 year contract signed in 2000 extended to 2029. This has been valued at £28 million in the tender document.
The contract currently has no further options to extend so the proposed extension shall take the contract beyond its expected expiry date.
Aberdeen awarded the contract on the grounds of “unforeseen circumstances”. It put these down to the impending “significant legislative and policy initiatives, including the deposit return scheme and extended producer responsibility policies on the council’s waste services and infrastructure”.
A spokesperson told letsrecycle.com: “This is a simple short extension of an existing contract subject to committee approval. It is the prior notification that we are is proposing to extend the existing 25 year waste management contract for 3.5 years to enable many of the forthcoming legislative and policy changes that are in the offing to become clearer to enable us to better consider the long term future waste needs of the city”.
Suez explained that as contract is in notification stage, it had nothing further to add.
Contract
The deal in question covers the operation of Aberdeen’s household waste recycling centres and the council-owned materials recycling facility and waste transfer station. It also covers the management of the authority’s recyclable wastes.
Aberdeen also explained that given the particular scope of this contract, the uncertainty re the impact of the impending legislative changes, the council “believes it prudent to refrain from engaging with the market for a new tender/contract, until more is known about the full impact”.
The council said the policy changes could impact waste composition, volume, potential targets, and therefore services and infrastructure configuration.
Aberdeen council serves around 220,000 residents and recorded a recycling rate of 40.8% in 2020.
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