Manchester city council announced that Biffa Municipal had been successful in tendering for the contract on Friday (March 27) – and is also due to take over the running of street cleansing services in the city.
Waste collections are currently carried out by EnterpriseManchester, a joint venture between the council and Enterprise which began in February 2008. Under the arrangement the council holds an 80% stake in the partnership.
Manchester council hopes that by bringing the two services under the control of one contractor it could make efficiency savings of up to 10%. It has not disclosed the overall value of the contract.
Currently, an estimated 152,000 tonnes of waste are produced from households within the council’s catchment area each year, via an alternate weekly collection system for residual waste and recyclables.
Biffa is to take over the control of the collection service from early July 2015, and as yet the council has no plans to change any of the collection arrangements for householders.
Tender
Councillor Bernard Priest, deputy leader of Manchester city council, said: “This is a straightforward tender procurement exercise, not a change of policy for the city council. We’ve outsourced services before but we only do so when it’s the best interests of the people of Manchester, and that we can get the best possible, most cost effective deal for the people of Manchester.
“We’ve included street cleaning in the contract because it makes a lot of sense to have both pieces of work carried out by the same team, and this is part of our long term strategy for transforming the cleanliness of Manchester.
“We’re currently spending a large part of the Clean City fund on a major deep clean of Manchester’s neighbourhoods, but as that comes to an end the new contract will come into effect and enable us to keep those streets clean.”
The award of the contact to Biffa comes after Manchester council dropped plans to extend its deal with Enterprise, citing inefficiencies in the arrangement (see letsrecycle.com story).
Pete Dickson, Biffa Municipal’s commercial director, said: “Winning the contract for Manchester, one of England’s largest and highest profile cities, is a real feather in Biffa’s cap, and we look forward to working with the city for many years to come. Biffa is totally committed to providing the city’s residents with quality recycling, refuse and street cleansing services, that aim to help drive up Manchester’s recycling rate and reinforce its green credentials.”
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