East Lothian council, based in Haddington, awarded the contract to Cromwell following the introduction of food waste kerbside collections in the borough.
The food waste collections, which all Scottish local authorities have to provide by 2016, were rolled out by the council in April this year as a way of boosting its recycling rate (see letsrecycle.com story).
Rolls of 52 Ecopond biodegradable bags have been distributed to each of 47,000 households in the borough, which includes a yellow tag that serves as a re-order form for further supplies.
The contract was procured via the Scottish Excel Framework, which was allocated to 35 waste firms in the first collaborative arrangement of its type north of the border (see letsrecycle.com story).
Caddy
In addition to the liners, East Lothian residents have been provided with a seven-litre kitchen caddy and a 23-litre outdoor caddy with a locking lid, both supplied by Coral Products of Merseyside, who managed the distribution process in East Lothian.
The council claims it is the first to use Coral’s SteriTouch kitchen caddy, which uses the ‘natural sterilising properties of silver’ to reduce odours and slow down the growth of mould.
Introduction of a weekly food waste recycling service is part of a raft of changes to East Lothian’s domestic waste and recycling service, aimed at bringing the existing recycling rate of 40% to the government’s 60% target.
Service
Changes include a move to fortnightly residual waste collections, expansion of the fortnightly garden waste collection to cover all households, retention of the existing fortnightly recycling collection service for glass, cans and plastics and the introduction of a trade waste service.
Commenting on the Cromwell contract, the council’s waste services manager, Tom Reid said: “I have been extremely impressed with the level of service and standard of product supplied by Cromwell. They listened to our requirements, developed their products to suit East Lothian Council’s need and then delivered on time and in a thoroughly professional manner.
“Equally, the level of attention and commitment shown by Paul Fleetwood [Cromwell’s national accounts director] to our service redesign ensured the final roll out and planned resupply of all contracted products, such as the food waste sacks and trade waste recycling sacks and tape, occurred exactly as planned.”
Falkirk
Elsewhere in Scotland, Falkirk has also begun procuring for a waste framework comprising the screening, crushing and recycling of inert waste material arising from the council’s operations.
The framework, which also covers Clackmannanshire, is being tendered in line with the aims of Scotland’s Zero Waste Plan with a view to minimise the amount of waste being sent to landfill.
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