North Yorkshire awards recycling centre contract to EWC

The waste specialists have now taken control of all 16 recycling centres across North Yorkshire.

EWC have given itself a 60% recycling target for the contract

As part of the agreement EWC will provide all equipment, plant, vehicles and staff required for each site. An additional 70 recycling staff are currently being recruited in order to take EWC's head count over 220.

Staff will be trained to advise householders on pre-sorting and recycling of the various materials brought onto site.

The contract between the council and EWC has set out a 45% recycling target in year one, although the company has said that it hopes to quickly exceed that amount, setting its own target of a minimum of 60%.

Each site will have closed circuit television and automated number plate recognition technology in order to divert trade waste and prevent unauthorised sales of goods on site.

Online reporting


EWC will also be putting into practice its online reporting system, which provides a direct link to the latest figures on the exact weight of waste produced, waste streams, percentage recycled, disposal routes and links to copies of the waste consignment notes.

Kevin Wood, technical director of EWC, said: “The contract demonstrates the growing requirements among the local authorities for a waste and recycling service that is tailored to their individual requirements and that exceeds government's expectations in terms of targets and cost control.

The contract initially comes to an end in September 2007, but there is an option to extend it until March 2010 following a performance assessment.

“We are all grateful to be offered the opportunity to work with North Yorkshire county council on improving the performance and recycling levels of the HWRCs throughout the county,” he added.

And Tony Norris, waste operations manager with North Yorkshire county council, added: “Throughout the tendering process EWC demonstrated the experience and commitment we need to really make an impact on our recycling performance across the county.”