The £32 million contract (see letsrecycle.com story) saw Biffa take over waste collections across Winchester and East Hampshire on October 1. FromOctober 17 the company started rolling out a new integrated cross-border waste and recycling collection service.
The eight year contract was designed to save the councils up to £2 million annually. East Hampshire is expected to save 846,000 whilst Winchester can expect to see a saving of almost £1.4 million.
But, the councils have received a substantial number of complaints from residents who have not had their waste and recycling collected.
Winchester city council today told letsrecycle.com that the ball is firmly in Biffas court and a recovery plan has been put into place to ensure that the majority of missed bins will be collected by the end of the day (November 7). It explained that 20 crews worked over the weekend in an attempt to resolve the problem.
Reorganisation
A reorganisation of collection routes, brought in by Biffa, has been blamed for the missed collections as well as the crews lack of local knowledge. This is despite the fact that approximately 90 staff who used to work for the councils previous collection contractors – Veolia in East Hampshire and Serco in Winchester – transferred to Biffa.
The new routes have meant that some households have had their collection days changed. Residual waste and recyclables are collected on alternate weeks and garden waste is collected at the same time as residual waste. A monthly glass collection has also been introduced.
East Hampshire leader Patrick Burridge said on November 4: “It is not uncommon to encounter early problems when trying to bed in a large and complex contract such as this but nevertheless we apologise for the difficulties that some residents have experienced so far.
Councillor Burridge previously hailed the contract as “the stuff that dreams are made of”.
In a statement, Biffa said: Please be assured that we have a record of missed collections and are making every effort to clear this as soon as is possible. The changes which have been made to the refuse and recycling schedules are necessary and will provide councils and residents with long-term benefits.
Len Attrill, project director at consultancy WYG, which evaluated the tenders before the contract was signed, said earlier this year: There are only a few cross-border contracts for refuse collections in existence and we believe that this is the first contract which covers refuse and recycling, street cleaning and grounds maintenance at the same time.
Its a more complex project than anything that has gone before and it is brave because it is the first time anyone has tried to do it this way, Mr Atrill added.
The Landscape Group handles the maintenance and street cleansing services for Biffa as part of the contract.
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