Birmingham city council is set to develop a partnership with local charities for the collection and recycling of textiles in a bid to increase material volumes and revenue.
Under the partnership, textiles will be pooled and sold in bulk. The council said the main benefits of the partnership would be a reduction in contract management and transport costs, a streamlined administration process and a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.
The procurement process, and the contract once awarded, will be managed on behalf of the partnership by the council and Birmingham-based community interest company Buy for Good.
Steve Jones, assistant category manager for transport and utilities (procurement) at Birmingham city council, told letsrecycle.com: Birmingham city council is committed to working with third sector organisations. This initiative is intended to increase revenue for all charities and to reduce the amount of textiles sent to landfill.
Mr Jones said that any revenue raised from the sale of the materials is expected to be split pro-rata based on the anticipated volumes committed by the charities, minus an agreed management fee for Birmingham city council.
He explained that the initiative was in the expression of interest stage meaning that at present the names of the textile charities involved could not be released.
Funding
The project is being supported by the Local Government Association (LGA) which has kick-started the scheme with a 20,000 grant. Seven other pilot procurement projects received funding as the LGA aims to improve the buying and management of goods in Big Win areas which include: waste collection; property; roads; care for the elderly; and corporate services.
Commenting on the funding, Councillor Peter Fleming, chairman of the LGAs improvement board, said: These innovative pilots should lead to improvements in the services which matter most to the public such as rubbish collections, roads and elderly care. Councils remain the most efficient part of the public sector and these pilots will help find further savings in addition to the millions already saved by sharing services.
The LGA looks forward to working with the successful pilot areas to make efficiencies which can be used to protect vital frontline services and bring savings to the public purse.
The LGA said that Birminghams initiative will review the on-street collection arrangements to achieve operational and financial benefits through aggregated volume and a more coordinated administrative process.
London
The announcement by Birmingham comes in the wake of a project by London Councils and the London Waste and Recycling Board (LWaRB) which is looking to procure a pan-London consortia contract for the management and sale of materials from textile banks (see letsrecycle.com story).
However the London project has proven to be controversial as textile recycling charity TRAID warned that a winner takes all approach to the contract could strip London charities of their ability to fundraise (see letsrecycle.com story).
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