Palm Recycling wins North East bring bank deal

The councils involved are: Gateshead, Newcastle city, Sunderland, North Tyneside and South Tyneside and the banks scheme will complement kerbside collections by the authorities.

The bring banks operate with a dual stream collection system which means paper is collected in blue bring banks and other dry recyclables mixed glass, plastic bottles, cans and Tetrapak are collected in red bring banks.

Palm Recycling previously provided just paper bring banks to the councils and introduced the new dual stream bring banks in November 2011 under the new contract.

Commenting on the deal Ross Johnstone, business manager for Palm Recycling, said: With all sites across the five councils now managed by Palm Recycling, the contract delivers considerable savings and logistical advantages through economies of scale as well as through a reduction in the number of servicing contractors.

Advantages

Gateshead council lead the procurement of the contract as part of the North East Purchasing Organisation which aims to simplify the tendering process for suppliers whilst helping councils take advantage of economies of scale.

Commenting on the advantages of the contract, councillor Martin Gannon, cabinet spokesman for customer service at Gateshead borough council, said: These new recycling banks promise to make peoples household recycling simpler and a whole lot easier.

It is hoped the new bring banks will increase the recycling rate across the boroughs, which in 2010/11 were all below 40%. The recycling rate ranges from 31% in Sunderland to 37% in North Tyneside.

Cllr Gannon added: The more we can encourage people to recycle, the less landfill tax we will have to pay and the more we will have to spend on essential services. Its simple, its logical and now its much easier to do.

Residents in Gateshead currently have a fortnightly kerbside collection of commingled dry recyclables however, similarly to the bring banks system, paper is kept separate to avoid contamination by other materials.

Wales

The deal represents yet another success for Palm Recycling which in July last year secured a three-year contract paper bring banks contract with six councils in South East Wales (see letsrecycle.com story).

Palm Recycling currently works with over 100 local authorities in the UK providing bring bank contracts, kerbside collections and material direct purchase contracts. Cheshire-based Palm Recycling is responsible for the procurement of recovered paper feedstock for Norfolk-based newsprint manufacturer Palm Paper.