Wolverhampton-based Jack Moody Ltd is to continue handling the material on behalf of the council, under a new contract that is anticipated to start in April 2016.
As part of the new arrangement, the council is switching from a mixed recycling system for the collection of around 10,000 tonnes of food and garden waste per year to a separate collection system for garden waste. The material is currently collected via a 240-litre brown bin from householders.
Cannock Chase is to drop the collection of food waste altogether from its 42,000 households, although it will offer residents free home composting units in a bid to prevent all of the material ending up as residual waste.
Jack Moody
The move will see garden waste composted at Jack Moody’s Hollybush Farm facility at Shareshill in Staffordshire through an open windrow facility. At present the mixed organic waste material is treated by Jack Moody via the in-vessel composting method.
Residents will be asked to stop presenting food waste for collection from February 2016.
The council claims that switching to the open windrow method will result in a saving of around £308,000 per year, with IVC believed to be double the cost for the authority.
Cannock Chase is not the first Staffordshire council to switch from IVC to open-windrow composting of organic waste, with Tamworth and Lichfield council having told residents to stop presenting food waste for collection in July 2014 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Announcement of the new contract for Jack Moody comes as the council signs a seven-year renewal of its waste collection contract with Biffa Municipal for the collection of residual & organic waste and recyclables. Residual and recyclable waste are collected on an alternate weekly schedule.
Contracts
Commenting on the new contracts, councillor Alan Dudson, Cannock Chase’s environment portfolio leader, said: “Following a long procurement process we are now in a position to award the contracts. There will be some changes that residents will have to make in the New Year with the way they recycle, but these new contracts mean that the council is saving a lot of money.
“With government cuts we are constantly looking at ways to save money without cutting services to residents in the district and this is another way that we can ensure that residents keep their alternate weekly refuse collections.
“However I would remind people to take care once the revised service is introduced in February 2016. As any food waste that goes into the brown bin will cause contamination and will incur costs for the taxpayer.”
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