Waste management company Community Waste, which currently operates the facility on behalf of the council, is believed to the favourite in a six bidder shortlist vying to land the deal. Community Waste, which is comprised of Yorkshire-based Cutts Brothers and Atlantic Paper, has been operating the plant on an ‘income generating' arrangement since August 2004 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Originally six companies were understood to be in contention for the contract: including Irish–owned waste management firm Greenstar UK and waste and recycling company Viridor, as well as Yorkshire-based H.W Martins, which also has experience in the sector.
The remaining two bidders are consortiums comprised of construction firm Amey and Spanish-owned waste management company Cespa, called Amey/Cespa, and Matrix Recycling Facilities, which is comprised of paper recycling firms Aylesford Newsprint and Abitibi-Bowater. Martins is thought to have been one of a final shortlist of two companies with Community Waste for the work.
Milton Keynes council, Community Waste and HW Martins all declined to comment until after the contract had been officially awarded.
The council is thought to be looking at alternatives to the current operation arrangements as part of the tender process and hopes to introduce a wider range of material streams to be sorted at the plant.
The council developed the £5 million facility in 1993 and has previously been operated by waste management firms Cory Environmental and Shanks. The facility was hit by a fire in April 2005 which saw material being diverted to the HW Martin-operated plant at Peterborough (see letsrecycle.com story).
The plant became operational again in 2006, with Community Waste introducing new machinery from German company Stadler to help increase the capacity of the site.
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