Serco awarded 40m Havering collection contract

Services firm Serco has been awarded a contract worth in the region of 40 million to manage household waste and recycling services in the London Borough of Havering.

The seven-year deal, which has an option to continue for a further three years, is scheduled to start on August 1 this year and will see the waste management firm collect over 73,000 tonnes of household waste per year.

Under the contract, Serco which now holds five London waste contracts – will invest in a new fleet of split back vehicles to enable both refuse and recycling sacks to be collected at the same time in separate sections, reducing vehicle congestion and carbon emissions.

Biffa has handled residual and kerbside recycling services in Havering since 2004, while the council provides its own commercial waste collection service to an estimated 400 local business customers in the borough, in areas including Harold Wood, Hornchurch, Upminster, Rainham and Romford.

At present, collections of household waste and recycling materials are carried out separately in black and orange sacks from the kerbside on a weekly basis.

Serco will also collect green waste from households as part of the contract and is also set to work with the voluntary sector to establish a furniture reuse scheme, providing a collection service for large bulky waste items collected direct from households.

The introduction of kerbside collections for textiles and small waste electrical and electronic equipment is also under consideration.

Standards

Councillor Barry Tebbutt, cabinet member for StreetCare, the councils environmental service, said: Were really looking forward to working with Serco, theyve come up with some good ideas to help minimise waste and ensure that the already exceptional standards that we have are maintained.

Mike Boult, managing director of Sercos direct services business, added: We are delighted the London Borough of Havering has selected Serco to deliver these important services to the residents of Havering.

Our track record in delivering a broad range of environmental services across the UK means that we are uniquely placed to understand the growing needs of the local community. We look forward to working in partnership with the council to deliver the waste service and the innovations we have pledged in the bid.

The successful tender come after Havering awarded a five-year contract worth an estimated 1 million to rewards scheme Local Green Points in November, in order to provide households with an incentive to recycle. The scheme was rolled out in the borough last month (see letsrecycle.com story).