Milton Keynes names preferred bidder for 80m deal

And, it will involve kitchen food waste collections being introduced to Milton Keynes for the first time, with a spokesman for Serco telling letsrecycle.com that this would happen “in the first year of the contract”.

The agreement, which is expected to be finalised within the next four weeks, and includes the option to be extended by a further seven years, was welcomed by councillor Chris Williams, the Buckinghamshire council's cabinet member for Environmental Services.

He said: “With the predicted growth of Milton Keynes, waste and recycling will become even more prominent. I look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with Serco.”

Contractor

Serco beat off competition to win preferred bidder status from Milton Keynes' present contractor Cory Environmental, waste management firms Biffa and Veolia and Focsa Services (UK) Ltd – a subsidiary of Spanish company FCC, which also owns WRG.

Its involvement in Milton Keynes is likely to signal the end of Cory's tenure of more than seven years as the council's contractor, with their £40 million contract having begun in October 2000 (see letsrecycle.com story).

Cory's waste and recycling collection service uses a system of black sacks for residual waste, pink bags for paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, cans and foil and a blue box for glass, and the Serco spokesman indicated that those methods would continue to be used.

At the same time, the new food waste collections will use caddies and mainly, but not exclusively, 140 litre wheeled bins.

While, apart from food waste, the spokesman didn't reveal details of any new materials that would be added to Milton Keynes' recycling collections, he did confirm that “there won't be a reduction in the number of materials collected”.

And, Serco has said that it will introduce “more environmentally friendly collection routes” for Milton Keynes' weekly waste and recycling collections, as well as trialling electric-powered collection vehicles, which, the spokesman explained, could “potentially” lead to a whole new fleet of vehicles.

Publicity

Milton Keynes achieved a 34.95% recycling and composting rate in 2006-07, but Serco is targeting a 50% rate, and the spokesman said that “we've put aside a sum to help support a number of publicity campaigns by the council to increase rates”.

Serco's managing director – local government, Mike Boult, highlighted the importance that would be attached to working with local residents to make the service a success.

“We are very excited by our new partnership with Milton Keynes council as we share the council's view that environmental issues are increasingly important and that we must engage with the community to improve these services,” he said.