Biffa Municipal has been named as the preferred bidder for a 8.6 million refuse collection and street cleansing contract for a group of councils in mid Kent.
The Mid Kent Joint Waste Partnership comprising Maidstone borough council, Ashford borough council, Swale borough council and Kent county council – has selected the firm following a competitive dialogue procurement process which began in October 2011.
Biffa was chosen ahead of seven bidders including the current waste contractor in Ashford and Maidstone, SITA UK.
Biffa already operates waste collections and street cleansing service in Swale and street cleansing in Ashford.
A spokeswoman for Maidstone borough council, which has been leading on the procurement,told letsrecycle.com today (October 23): The evaluation of the final tenders was completed and the recommendation was agreed on the 24th September 2012. Biffa were confirmed as the preferred bidder when all the authority call-in periods were completed on 19th October 2012.
A spokesman for Biffa Municipal said: Biffa is delighted to be preferred bidder for the Mid Kent joint contract, especially considering two of the three partners are existing clients, and looks forward to being confirmed.
The councils expects to sign the contract by the end of the year.
Under the contract, Biffa Municipal will provide alternate weekly collections of residual waste and commingled dry recyclables in wheeled bins, alongside a weekly food waste collection service and chargeable green waste collections. The aim is to boost recycling rates across the area to an average of 44%.
Service implementation will be in phases, beginning with Ashford in April 2013, Maidstone in August 2013 and Swale in December 2013.
Collections
At present, Ashford provides weekly collections of residual waste in black sacks and kerbside recycling box collections for two thirds of households for paper, cans and glass. The council recorded the worst recycling rate in England in 2010/11, with a recycling and composting rate of just 14% (see letsrecycle.com story).
In Maidstone, the council currently provides alternate weekly collections of residual waste and dry recyclables paper, card, cans and plastics using wheeled bins alongside a weekly food waste collection service and fortnightly chargeable green waste collection service. It achieved a 31% recycling rate in 2010/11.
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Meanwhile, in Swale, the council provides alternate weekly collections of residual waste and recyclables including paper, card, plastic, cans, foil, plus glass separately. The council also offers a fortnightly charged for garden waste collection service. Its recycling rate stands at 32%.
The new arrangements are intended to improve the quality of waste collection services and achieve greater efficiencies, saving the councils up to 5 million.
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