From Monday, 1 April, the council is introducing 240 litre purple bins – manufactured by MGB Plastics – for glass, cans and plastics in an effort to move towards the Scottish Government’s 60% recycling target by 2020.
The council said it hopes the new method will boost its current 55.3% rate. Householders will be able to use their existing blue waste bins, which take a fully commingled load, for paper and cardboard only. Grey and brown bin-collections for residual and garden waste will remain unchanged under the new system.
Three lots
As a result of the new kerbside regime, the council has appointed contractors to treat the material collected from households, with a contract split into three lots with approximate tonnages.
The first lot was for the treatment of 7,500 tonnes of mixed papers and cardboard and was won by Manchester-based Saica Natur UK, in a deal valued at £46,245 per year. (This equates to a fee of £6.16 per tonne.)
The second was for the treatment of around 4,500 tonnes of material from the glass, cans and plastics stream (PTT, beverage containers and milk cartons) which was awarded to Levenseat, with an approximate value of £105,156. (This equates to a fee of £23.36 per tonne.)
Regen Waste was awarded the final lot, worth £153,570, which covered the treatment of 2,500 tonnes of commingled dry recyclable waste. This will be for the Isle of Arran’s household waste collection service, which will be reviewed separately at a later date. (This equates to a fee of £61.42 per tonne.)
The existing contract is held by UPM , which treats all recyclable material from the blue bin under the current arrangement. The company has a materials recycling facility at Shotton, North Wales.
Changes
Commenting on the contract, a spokesperson for North Ayrshire Council said: “The contract is to support the changes to our household waste collection service which commences in April.
“The changes will allow all households on North Ayrshire’s mainland as well as the Isle of Cumbrae to recycle more at home with the introduction of an additional recycling bin.
“This additional recycling bin will see residents split their recyclable items into two bins – blue bin for paper, card and cardboard and the new purple bin for glass, cans, plastics and cartons. Previously, all of these items would have been contained within the blue bin only.
“This contract is therefore to enable the processing of these new material streams.”
Pricing
The contract document stated that bids submitted for the tender were submitted either as ‘Uplift recyclate from Council Delivery Point’, which will see the council operate bulking facility and load supplier’s vehicles who will collect and transport recyclate from Shewalton Waste Transfer Station to a suitably licensed treatment facility for processing’.
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