Sandwell council has hailed the flying start to its 25-year, 650 million waste deal with a consortium led by services company Serco, after reporting a 41% increase in the amount of recycling collected every month since the contract began in November 2010.
The West Midlands local authority said the initial success of the new contract meant it was making progress towards the goals set under its Waste Improvement Plan, which include reaching a 60% recycling rate by 2020 and cutting waste to landfill from the recorded in 2009/10 to just 5%.
Among the changes to the councils waste services since the long-term deal was signed last year (see letsrecycle.com story) was last months introduction of new collection days borough-wide. This means that, for the first time, residual waste, recycling and garden waste are all collected on the same day of the week.
Sandwell described this change as the first step towards the introduction of new collection schedules later this year which will see the retention of weekly residual waste collections and kerbside recycling collections being carried out on a weekly and not fortnightly basis.
It will also involve the introduction of new weekly food waste collections between September 2011 and January 2012 and an extension of the councils existing fortnightly garden waste service to be available all year-round and not just for nine months as is currently the case.
Tonnages
At the start of the contract, an average of 1,200 tonnes a month of mixed dry recycling was being collected from Sandwells residents. But, between March and May 2011, this figure was up to an average of 1,700 tonnes a month an increase of 41%.
And, the council claimed the introduction of food waste collections to all its 120,000 households would boost this figure further. It also plans to introduce a community-based recycling incentive scheme, the Recycling Improvement Fund, next year, providing support for community-based projects in areas that record high recycling rates.
Commenting on the contracts progress to date, the councils interim chief executive, Jan Britton, said: I am very pleased that our partnership with Serco has got off to a flying start, we are on track to deliver a first class waste service.
By this time next year, the service will be dramatically better than the one we had before the contract – and Sandwell residents will be reaping the rewards of the procurement process we began in 2007.
Consortium
The Sandwell contract is being delivered by a consortium led by Serco that also involves organics specialists Jack Moody, materials recycling facility (MRF) operator Pure Recycling and the operators of the Coventry incinerator, the Coventry & Solihull Waste Disposal Company
It was procured without PFI funding, after the council decided not to pursue support from the government in 2008 (see letsrecycle.com story).
The deal also involves residual waste being sent to Staffordshire county councils W2R energy-from-waste incinerator, which is expected to come online in 2013 (see letsrecycle.com story).
And, Sandwell claims that if it achieves its targets for recycling and landfill diversion, it will save 80 million by avoiding landfill taxes.
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