Durham county council has awarded a 24 million five-year contract to Derbyshire-based firm HW Martin Waste Ltd to operate the countys 13 waste and recycling centres.
HW Martin Waste Ltd, a subsidiary of the HW Martin Group, will take over the running of the household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) from Saturday June 1. Another subsidiary of the Group meanwhile, Premier Waste and Recycling, will operate the transport from the HWRC sites.
According to the council, the recycling performance of the current sites varies across the county, with the best performing sites recording an 80% recycling rate. However, the contract with HW Martin aims for a minimum recycling performance of 70% as an average across all of 13 sites.
Mark Faulconbridge, operations director at HW Martin Waste Ltd, said: Operating in these tough times continues to be a challenge but in the North East we have invested heavily in the region over the past three years so that we can give the best service to our local authority and business customers. We are therefore very pleased that Durham county council have awarded their prestigious HWRC contract to HW Martin Waste Ltd.
HW Martin Waste Ltd operates waste and recycling centres, transfer stations and collection services for a number of local authorities in the UK, including Cheshire county councils recycling centres.
The proportion of household waste reused, recycled and composted in County Durham is 44% based on 2011/12 figures, according to the council, while the remainder is currently sent to landfill.
In order to improve these rates, the council is undergoing a number of changes to its waste and recycling services as part of its new Municipal Waste Management Strategy, which was adopted following a public consultation between October 2011 and January 2012. The strategy sets target for overall council recycling rates of 45% by 2015 and 50% by 2020.
Premier Waste Management
The HWRCs as well as the countys waste collections, treatment and haulage were previously operated by council-owned Premier Waste Management since 1993, but as part of the councils waste strategy, it was announced earlier this year that the firm would be wound down when all of its current contracts with the council expire in June 2013.
Professional services firm KPMG has been appointed to oversee the winding down process and confirmed that Premier Waste and its parent company Durham County Waste Management Company Limited (DCWM), have entered into Company Voluntary Arrangements (CVAs) which allow them to trade until the contracts are completed.
As a result, the council has been procuring separate contracts for the operation of its HWRCs and waste haulage, and in February the council awarded an 112.8 million eight-year contract to SITA UK to treat around 140,000 tonnes of residual household waste per year. This contract also has an optional four year extension, which would take its overall value to 158.9 million (see letsrecycle.com story).
The winding down of Premier Waste Management is expected to result in the loss of 60 jobs, although the firms director of risk management, Mark Stouph, told letsrecycle.com that the majority of staff would be transferred to new contractors and also to the council, which is taking some of the current Premier Waste Management services entirely in-house.
The council will be taking over the running of the Coxhoe landfill site, environmental monitoring services and the boroughs waste transfer stations at Thornley Crossings, Heighington Lane and Annfield Plain.
However, SITA will be responsible for operating the transport loading shovels at the transfer stations, while the firm has in turn sub-contracted Durham-based Hargreaves UK Services Ltd to deal with transport from the transfer stations.
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