The 80 million deal sees the company taking over services this month, including street cleaning and grounds maintenance as well as waste and recycling collections.
 An improved fleet of collection vehicles has been promised by Accord to help boost Gloucester's recycling |
Accord, which won the contract ahead of Enterprise plc, is expected to bring Gloucester into the top performing 25% of councils in the country on street cleansing and recycling within four years.
The company's targets include hitting a recycling rate of 50% by the end of 2008/09. The city recycled 15.8% of household waste in 2005/06.
The new 5.3 million-a-year service will also require Accord to keep residents and businesses on side, with full payments related to public satisfaction with the services.
Existing staff running Gloucester's streetcare services are to transfer to Accord under the new arrangements, operating from the city's existing depot at Eastern Avenue.
Councillor Andrew Lewis, cabinet member for Streetcare, commented: “This is one of the most fundamental and exciting changes to the delivery of council services that we have seen in the city. Gloucester City Council and Accord are making major investments in services that residents have told us are important to them.
“Residents will have a strong voice in the delivery of services and are being encouraged to play their part to make Gloucester one of the cleanest and greenest in the country,” Cllr Lewis added.
Recycling
To improve recycling rates, Gloucester's green waste collection scheme, currently provided to 26,000 homes, is to be expanded next year, with a new kitchen waste service to be rolled out across the whole city by 2008.
The council's existing weekly green box recycling scheme for paper, glass and cans could also be expanded with new plastic and cardboard collections planned.
The service expansion will see the city spending 320,000 on new recycling collection containers. The new contract will also require improvements to the city's current fleet of refuse and recycling collection vehicles.
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The council said residents could be given the opportunity to recycle up to 70% of their waste on the new schemes. Gloucester's weekly refuse collections could ultimately switch to alternate weekly if the new schemes are successful.
Philip Fellowes-Prynne, Chief Executive, Accord plc, added: “Accord shares the Council’s determination that within four years Gloucester will be among the top performers for clean streets and recycling rates. Our innovative partnership creates the right conditions for us to achieve this, by working with local people who care about their communities.”
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