The West Midlands local authority revealed that services firm Enterprise Managed Services had been dropped from the list of contenders, leaving Biffa Waste Services and a consortium led by services company Serco to submit final tenders next year for the 25-year deal.
Dealing with waste and recycling collection and treatment, as well as cleansing services, the centrepiece of the contract is expected to be the development of an 'Eco Park' at Pikehelve, which the council received outline planning permission for in February 2009 (see letsrecycle.com story).
The council has previously indicated the development could include a MRF and in-vessel composting facility, but it has stressed that the final decision on what it is home to will depend on which bidder wins the contract.
Commenting on the progress made towards the deal, the council's cabinet member for neighbourhoods and housing, councillor Mahboob Hussain, said: “This further step forward brings us closer to a much more environmentally friendly way of dealing with Sandwell's waste.”
“I am confident that both companies we have selected as potential partners have the know-how to deliver a value for money, improved waste and cleansing service for the whole borough, while drastically cutting the amount of rubbish sent to landfill,” he added.
Plan
Sandwell is procuring the contract as part of its Waste Improvement Plan, which it hopes will allow it to reach a 50% recycling and composting rate by 2015 and reduce the amount of waste it sends to landfill to below 5% by 2020.
The council, which has decided to implement the Plan without PFI funding, is also planning to send up to 60,000 tonnes-a-year of its residual waste to Staffordshire county council's proposed energy-from-waste facility, under a deal agreed in July 2008 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Sandwell has said it hopes final award of the integrated waste and recycling contract will be made by October 2010.
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