Awarded by the Black Country Purchasing Consortium, the contract will see the company taking in material from more than 400,000 households. It will be used at its plant in Aylesford, Kent for the production of 100% recycled newsprint, most of which is used by UK newspaper publishers.
The decision to award the contract comes as the market hots up for local authority used newspaper contracts because of the opening of new deinking and processing facilities in the UK and Belgium.
The Black Country contract involves Aylesford taking in newspapers and magazines from the boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton.
 Contract signed: (standing l-r) Black Country recycling managers – Julia Bridgett, Sandwell; Karen Newell, Aylesford Newsprint; Heather Growcott, Walsall; with (l-r) Melvyn Lilley, Wolverhampton; and Paul Edmunds, Dudley. |
Newspapers and magazines will be collected from the kerbside under existing and new collections schemes being launched by the four boroughs. These will generally be through the local authority and contractor route as well as via the community sector.
Delighted
Karen Newell, Aylesford recycling area manager for the Midlands, said: “We are delighted to have won this important contract and look forward to working with the four local authorities. We are expecting substantial tonnages from the area within the next 12 months.”
Under the Black Country award, there will be contacts with Dudley and Wolverhampton until 2007 while Sandwell and Walsall will run to 2005 with an option to extend. The shorter timespan is a result of internal contract arrangements already in place in Sandwell and Walsall. Pricing figures for the contracts have not been disclosed.
Aylesford will be installing its blue-liveried collection banks to sites in Dudley and Sandwell and existing banks in Walsall and Wolverhampton will remain. Great Ormond Street continues as the charity supported by Aylesford in return for the bank material.
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