The LAWDC was set up in 1992 to provide the county's waste disposal services, operating four landfill sites and five civic amenity sites. The sale of CWM will include the subsidiary Cumbria Waste Recycling and the council's 50% stake in Lakeland Waste Management, a joint venture with Inglewood Properties.
Cumbria's decision to sell its waste company follows the county and district councils' adoption of the Cumbria Joint Municipal Waste Strategy in May 2003.
Graham Harrison, coordinator of the council's Invest to Save and Improve (ISI) programme, said: “The Cumbria waste management strategy shifts the emphasis away from landfill to recycling and composting and Cumbria Waste Management's expertise is in landfill. So it has been decided in the last week to sell all of the council's share in the company.”
The value of Cumbria Waste Management will not be determined until the contract is settled as bidders may wish to negotiate alternative payment methods, he said.
“The value of Cumbria Waste Management depends on what the market place offers us in bidding for the contract. It could be in part, for example, efficiency savings built into the contract,” he explained.
The council plans to open up the contract shortly for expressions of interest from companies before inviting tenders. It has said it would like to see the private sector bidders show how they will conform to the Cumbria Joint Municipal Waste Strategy in their applications.
The county council's recycling rate in 2001-02 was 9% and it has a statutory target of 21% for 2005-06. It has estimated that the costs of the new contract will initially be 17 million per year rising to 49 million in 2031.
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