Serco chosen for 44m Wandsworth collection deal

Wandsworth councilrevealed today (July 29)that it has awarded the company an eight year contract beginning on April 1st 2012, with the option to extend for another eight years. The council explained that the deal had not been officially signed, but the political decision to give Serco the work had been made.

The only other bidder for the contract was Biffa Municipal Ltd which is the current waste and recycling collection contractor in Wandsworth (see letsrecycle.com story). Sercos bid was deemed to provide the best value for money by the council.

Under the new arrangement, Serco will be paid 5.5 million a year and 90 staff will transfer to Serco under TUPE agreement. It covers the collection of refuse and recycling from 127,000 households, of which a third are multi-occupancy properties such as flats.

Notably, councillors have voted not to introduce food waste collections which the council dubbed a more complicated and inconvenient system that would have required residents to keep a second refuse container in kitchens just for food scraps.

Service

At present, residual waste is collected weekly in Wandsworth in ordinary dustbins or black sacks and collections take place from Monday to Saturday. Recycling is collected in orange sacks on the same dayas residual waste. Materials accepted by the council include: Glass; drinks cartons; plastic bottles; yoghurt pots; plastic tubs; mixed paper and card; cans and aerosols. Residents living in blocks of flats receive communal wheeled bins for their refuse and recycling.

Under the new deal, the weekly collection service will be retained but collections will no longer be made on Saturdays which the council said would mean that residents in the West of the borough would no longer have their Saturday mornings disturbed.

Residents living in high rise properties will also continue to receive twice weekly collections and in some cases up to three times a week.

Orange recycling sacks will continue to be regularly distributed to doorsteps by the collectors as part of their duties, while the popular annual Christmas tree collections will also be retained. Recyclables will continue to be sent to the Western Riverside Waste Authoritys new materials recycling facility at Smugglers Way for sorting. The MRF opened in March 2011 (see letsrecycle.com story).

A new fleet of bin lorries with split compartments will be introduced allowing refuse sacks and orange sacks to be picked up at the same time. This change will save money in operational costs, reduce traffic congestion on local roads and benefit air quality levels.

The council said the contract would save over 937,000 each year.

Environment spokesman Cllr Jonathan Cook said: We are committed to providing a high quality refuse and recycling service to our residents and offering the best possible value for money for local taxpayers. This new contract will deliver on both fronts.

We have guaranteed weekly collections and also ensured that these can be completed in five days rather than six, which means that residents will no longer be disturbed on Saturday mornings by the sounds of their bins being emptied.

There will also be significant environmental benefits from using a new fleet of dual-use vehicles. This means fewer big vehicles on the boroughs roads, less congestion and better air quality levels as a result.

These improvements can all be achieved at a saving to council tax payers of almost 1m a year. Providing service improvements in a more cost effective way is one of our core aims in Wandsworth.

“Delighted”

Serco said that it was “delighted” to have been selected for the new contract.

Sercos managing director for environmental services, Mike Boult said We are delighted to have been selected by Wandsworth Borough Council to provide quality services, which offer best value for money to residents across the Borough. We look forward to working in partnership with local people to ensure those services meet the needs of the communities we serve.