Sandwell cuts shortlist for 1bn waste contract

At a cabinet meeting held last week, the council decided to shortlist waste management company Biffa Waste Services, services firm Enterprise Managed Services and a consortium lead by services firm Serco, which includes materials recycling facility operator Pure Recycling and organics specialists Jack Moody.

The Sandwell contract is being procured without funding through the government's Private Finance Initiative (PFI), after the council opted to “go it alone” following a public consultation in May 2008 (see letsrecycle.com story).

As an alternative, Sandwell decided to tender an integrated waste management contract and signed an agreement to send 50,000 tonnes of residual waste to Staffordshire county council's 300,000 tonnes-a-year capacity energy-from-waste plant (see letsrecycle.com story).

Sandwell also intends to make use of existing incineration capacity within the West Midlands to provide an interim solution to bridge the gap ahead of Staffordshire's plant coming online in 2013/14.
Tenders for the short-term incineration contract have been returned and Sandwell expects to award the five year contract in April 2009.

The eventual contractor is expected to build any facilities at the Pikehelve Eco Park in West Bromwich, which received outline planning permission last month (see letsrecycle.com story).

The aim of the contract and Sandwell's Waste Improvement Programme is to improve cleanliness in the borough and meet the Government target to recycle and compost 50% of all waste by 2015 and 55% by 2020.

The council also intends to restructure its frontline waste and cleansing services, in a new operational team under trade waste manager Gary Smith from March 30.

The new structure is intended to create immediate improvements by merging supervision arrangements for waste and cleansing and by preparing council services for the future Waste Partnership.

Cllr Mahboob Hussain, Sandwell's Cabinet member for neighbourhoods and housing, said, “This is a significant step forward for the waste improvement plan.

“I'm delighted that such well-known and expert names from the waste and public services sector want to work with us, and I'm confident our future talks with them will result in proposals that will mean a better deal for residents.”

He added, “The plan amounts to a transformation of Sandwell's waste and cleansing services, although we will continue to provide a weekly collection for residual waste and have ruled out any ‘pay as you throw' charges.

“This is a ‘green' initiative which will drastically cut the amount of rubbish we send to expensive and polluting landfill, making a significant contribution to cutting Sandwell's carbon footprint.”