The two councils are evaluating two contractors’ tender responses and expect to make a decision in the next few weeks, with the contract due to start in October 2003.
Worth up to 12m over five years, the contract would see the differing responsibilities of the county and the borough brought together to deliver the service.
Shropshire has this week put in a planning application for a new waste handling facility in Oswestry. It would enable materials collected from households for recycling to be sorted and for other household waste to be bulked.
An Oswestry spokeswoman said its decision to seek partnership with the county council had followed a Best Value review by the Audit Commission last summer. This found that the waste management service was ‘fair’, awarding it one star and judging it to have promising prospects for improvement.
But the inspectors found that recycling rates were among the bottom 25 per cent of district councils in England, while waste collection costs were among the most expensive. Oswestry's Best Value report recorded a municipal waste recycling rate of 6.1%.
The Commission report advised that as a small rural council with few opportunities for economies of scale, Oswestry should seek partnerships with both the county council and the private sector.
Inspectors found that there had been an encouraging initial response to Oswestry’s kerbside recycling scheme, which was new at the time of their visit.
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