Enterprise wins 9m Solihull collection deal

And, the company is also celebrating after Manchester city council named it as preferred bidder for a seven-year collection contract, with a seven-year extension option, worth £7.7 million per annum.

Solihull

In Solihull, Enterprise Managed Services – the company's waste management arm -was already working for the council, collecting paper from householders, as well as managing the street care service.

The new seven year contract, worth £9m per year, with a number of extensions that could extend the deal to 28 years, officially begins in April 2008.

However, green waste and refuse collections are presently operated by Veolia Environmental Services and Enterprise will begin managing these when the contract between Solihull and Veolia comes to an end on January 25.

Enterprise director David Martin, who led the Solihull bid, said: “Winning work in these additional service areas is a real vote of confidence for Enterprise. We look forward to building our partnership with Solihull metropolitan borough council.”

The firm, which has its headquarters in Liverpool, has also pledged to helping Solihull extend the range of dry recyclables collected at kerbside from paper to include cans, plastics and glass.

This will be with an aim of improving Solihull's present recycling/composting rate of 23.4% although the council has stressed new arrangements will be subject to public consultation.

Environment cabinet member Cllr David Bell said: “We are very hopeful that our new contract will enable us to extend opportunities for kerbside recycling. We are asking local people for their views on this and will then discuss with our new contractor how we can develop and shape the service to meet people's needs.”

Manchester

The recycling and waste collection contract with Manchester city council is set to start in mid-February and if it is awarded to the firm, the venture will be named EnterpriseManchester.

To become preferred bidder, Enterprise beat off competition from Biffa, SITA UK, Veolia, Verdant Group and the Connaught Partnership.

In a council report, Enterprise was described as “showing particular strengths in system management with a flexible approach to service delivery”.

Manchester city's executive member for environment Councillor Neil Swannick said: “We are delighted to be involved in this new partnership with Enterprise and we are confident it has the ability to deliver a quality service.

“The city has ambitious plans to reduce waste and to increase recycling and composting from its present level of 22% to at least 50% by 2020. We believe that this new company has the expertise to enhance greatly the services we provide to Manchester residents.”

Martin Joyce, Enterprise's managing director for public services, added: “We have made a number of service enhancement commitments to the city council and to the people of Manchester.

“Manchester residents will obtain industry leading levels of service quality and improved value for money and the partnership will contribute to making Manchester an environmentally sustainable city.”