The contract, for which Bywaters were the only bidders, will see the waste management company sort co-mingled dry recyclable materials and sell on the segregated materials for re-processing.
Craig Gregory, Bywaters’ operations director, told letsrecycle.com: “Bywaters are delighted by the London Borough of Tower Hamlet’s decision to continue our working partnership.
“Together we have built a strong collaborative environment, and we are excited for the opportunity to further expand our resource efficiency capabilities, delivering additional value, as well as social benefits to our local borough.
“This new contract will look beyond waste and seek to contribute added benefits to our wider community.
“We look forward to working with the council to deliver an ever-improving waste management contract.”
“Together we have built a strong collaborative environment”
Bywaters were the previous holders of the MRF sorting contract, having had an interim recycling deal extended to April 2020 in 2017.
The contract is to be for three years with the option to extend by up to a further three years. If the whole six years is seen out it will be worth £7.96 million.
MRF
Tower Hamlet’s previous MRF sorting contract with Bywaters came to an end on 31 March.
Historically, the council procured short term MRF contracts, for two years with the option of a further year.
However, the local authority is now looking to begin a longer contract to provide value and operational certainty for a longer period.
The succesful renewal of the council’s contract with Bywaters contrasts with the company’s decision in December 2019 to withdraw from a contract, believed to be worth around £90 million, processing some of the North London Waste Authority’s dry recyclables (see letsrecycle.com story).
Tower Hamlets
With an estimated population of nearly 318,000, Tower Hamlets had a recycling rate of 23.2% in the 2018/19 financial year. This was one of the lowest for any local authority in England, which had a national average of 45.1%.
In a bid to meet “increased demand” on services arising from population increase, make savings and increase performance, the council decided to bring its waste and recycling services in house in October 2018 (see letsrecycle.com story).
With the local authority’s waste and recycling contract with Veolia expiring in April 2020, “extensive preparations” for the in-house service were said to be underway in December 2019 (see letsrecycle.com story).
The MRF contract awarded to Bywaters is separate to that which was held by Veolia.
With the establishment of an in-house service Tower Hamlets now targets a 35% recycling target by 2022.
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