Following the approval of the plans by Kent county council's cabinet this week (November 30), Dover, Thanet and Shepway district councils and Canterbury city council will now begin jointly procuring a contract for a sole company to carry out alternate weekly collections of residual waste and fortnightly dry recyclable collections.
Working as the East Kent Waste Management Group, the contract will also involve the councils adopting weekly commingled collections of food and garden waste.
Commenting on the potential for savings, Mark Seed, director of environmental services at Thanet district council, said: “The improvement is based on getting the most income possible from recycling, by working in partnership across East Kent and with Kent county council, and should help to boost recycling rates and reduce the amount that the councils have to pay for waste disposal.”
A document outlining the plans which was considered by Kent county council on Monday explains that the new service would require an initial investment of £3.55 million by the county council to provide containers for new waste and recycling collections.
It would also require the council to make a £1.419 million ‘enabling payment' to allow for additional costs of introducing new collection systems.
The annual cost of the contract is expected to be £10 million-a-year, with savings being drawn from reductions in the number of crews needed across the East Kent area and a reduction in the overheads and management fees currently paid to individual waste contractors.
One of the main aims of the joint contract is to boost the four councils' combined recycling rate to 48% from the current average of 37%.
Shepway and Dover district councils are set to tender for the deal from September 30 2010 after the expiration of existing waste and recycling collection contracts with waste management firms Veolia and SITA UK, respectively.
Canterbury, which currently has a contract with services firm Serco, and Thanet, which operates an in-house collection service, would then align their services with the contract in 2013.
Final contract specifications are expected to be drafted in the New Year with contract award timetabled for April 2010.
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