The Partnership, formed from a coalition of five councils and a waste disposal authority will fund the scheme using 1.2million awarded from DEFRA’s first round of the Waste Minimisation and Recycling Fund. A majority of the funds will be allocated towards buying and distributing collection boxes, although a minority will be considered for the development of a new MRF and transfer station to serve the partners.
Tender
Magazines and newspapers, but not card will be collected from every household, including any high-rise and low-rise buildings, although details of collection times are to be finalised. These collections will be brought under the remit of a single organisation, although which contractor is selected will depend on a tender process. A final contractor will be selected by the beginning of next year.
To join the partnership, all local authorities will be required to terminate their current collection arrangements to make provision for the new single contractor arrangement. However, according to Paul Morgan of Macclesfield County Council, “many of the councils have loose contracts arrangements and will need to do this in order to knit together under a single contractor”.
Market
Although all of the included local authorities have a kerbside collection scheme in place, at the moment these schemes do not cover every households, as in the case of Macclesfield, where collections only cover 70% of residents.
The Partnership hopes to create markets for the paper with either paper reprocessors Shotton Paper Company or Bridgewater Paper Company, with view to establishing a five or ten year contract with one of the two mills.
The partnerships consists of the boroughs of Congleton, Crewe & Nantwich, Ellesmere Port & Neston, Macclesfield and Vale Royal, together with waste disposal authority Chester County Council, although will not include nearby Chester City Council, which is said to have a successful paper collection scheme in place. The Partnership was one of the 112 successful schemes amongst 300 applicants made to the fund for 2002.
Councillor Wesley Fitzgerald, chairman of the Cheshire local government association said: “The new paper collection scheme will be a vital component in kick-starting kerbside recycling across Cheshire.
“The coordination and integration of collections will also enable the partnership to consider expansion to other dry recyclables in the future,” he added.
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