The contract, which is for 10 years with an option of a 10 year extension, is worth £570 million and includes recycling, refuse and garden waste collections for the whole county.
SWP said the process was initiated after an agreement with current contractor Kier to bring their contract to early termination in 2020. The new contract is scheduled to commence from March 2020.
‘Recycle More’
The service will be based on delivery of the “Recycle More” service model, consisting of weekly recycling and food waste collections and three-weekly residual waste pick-ups. The contract will include a phased transition to a service model involving the collection of an enhanced range of recyclable materials.
In a contract procurement update, from a meeting of the Somerset Waste Board in February, Mickey Green, managing director of the Somerset Waste Partnership said in addition to delivering environmental benefits, a new collection contract “aims to deliver significant savings to all partners, through reduced contract costs, lower disposal costs and additional recycling credits for district partners – estimated in total at up to £1.7m.”
“It is evident from the soft market testing that all potential suppliers are becoming more risk averse, and the ripple effect of China’s restrictions on low quality recyclate imports is creating uncertainty in the market.”
Mr Green said “a robust procurement process” will be necessary to realise these benefits, enable potential suppliers to develop innovative solutions, and ensure that risks are “shared appropriately”.
The update notes that during the course of negotiating implementation of this with current contractor Kier the originally expected environmental and economic benefits were not realisable.
And, Mr Green said the market has changed “substantially” since the current contract was let, and that “suppliers are no longer willing to accept 100% of the risk on recyclate income (estimated to be worth around £3m per annum currently)”.
EfW
Councils within SWP voted in favour of the scheme in 2016 (see letsrecycle.com story). “Recycle More” will see residents in Mendip, Sedgemoor, South Somerset, Taunton Deane and West Somerset district councils switch from a fortnightly to three-weekly collection.
“While this is certainly about taking a quantum leap forward in our recycling rates, it’s equally about finding a partner to share SWP’s wider vision for the future.”
Cllr Derek Yeomans
Somerset Waste Board
SWP said a phased introduction of “Recycle More” will align it closely with Somerset’s switch from reliance on landfill to generating energy from waste at a facility being built in Avonmouth by contractor Viridor.
Commenting on the procurement, Cllr Derek Yeomans, chair of the Somerset Waste Board, said: “While this is certainly about taking a quantum leap forward in our recycling rates, it’s equally about finding a partner to share SWP’s wider vision for the future.
“They will not see their job as simply collecting waste and recycling but will share our ambition to create an exemplar service, demonstrating an absolute commitment to environmental quality while delivering excellent value for money.”
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