Onyx out of the running for Manchester waste contract

The Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority has now cut its short-list to four companies – Shanks, SITA, Viridor and Waste Recycling Group.

” We have listened to industry concerns that we should not keep too many interested parties in play since bidding this contract incurs a substantial cost.“
– Cllr Neil Swannick, GMWDA
Whichever company ultimately wins the contract could require a partner company to help run what is to be the UK's largest-ever waste management contract, which would cover waste services for the boroughs of Bolton, Bury, Manchester City, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside and Trafford.

The contract is backed by 100 million of government funding, through the Private Finance Initiative, and over the 25-year period is thought worth about 4 billion.

Value
Commenting on the new short-list for the contract, Cllr Neil Swannick – chair of the GMWDA – said: “At this stage in the procurement we need a competitive process that provides comfort to local taxpayers on value for money and attracting the best proposals.

“Equally, we have listened to industry concerns that we should not keep too many interested parties in play since bidding this contract incurs a substantial cost.

“I am pleased we have been able to select from some good proposals that were forward-looking and showed innovation. We now need all four of those short-listed companies to respond to this huge commercial opportunity in an appropriate way and to work up detailed solutions that make the best use of assets including the current workforce,” Cllr Swannick added.

The four remaining companies will now enter the invite-to-tender stage, which will see them put forward more detailed proposals for running the contract. A preferred bidder is expected to be selected in the first half of 2006.

The Greater Manchester Waste Authority is aiming to stop the growth in the generation of household waste among its 958,000 households, and with new waste processing infrastructure in place is hoping to raise recycling and composting rates to 50% of household waste.