We have listened to what residents want and overwhelmingly they want to increase the number of materials they can recycle at the kerbside including food waste
Cllr Michael Kinson, Warwick
SITA UK has been awarded a five-year collection contract with Warwick district council which includes the roll-out of food waste collections.
The new agreement, worth around £4m, will see a three-container system for recyclables, organic waste and residual waste rolled out to most of the district's 55,000 households in April.
Presently, newspapers, glass bottles and jars, cans and tins, foil and batteries are collected in a red box every two weeks. Under the new system, cardboard and plastic bottles will be added to the red box.
Collections of non-recyclable waste will move from weekly to fortnightly and householders will received a wheelie bin for mixed food and garden waste. Presently, only garden waste is collected from around 24,000 homes in the Midlands district.
It is expected the contract will help boost the district's present recycling rate of 29%.
Warwick district council's environment portfolio holder Cllr Michael Kinson said: “This new service will mean a change to current collection methods, but we have listened to what residents want and overwhelmingly they want to increase the number of materials they can recycle at the kerbside including food waste.
“Legislation and statutory targets are continually pressurising councils to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill and the council is keen to do all that is possible to safeguard our environment for generations to come. We look forward to working with SITA UK as our new contractor to deliver improved recycling and waste services to our residents.”
Tender
To secure the contract, Maidenhead-based SITA beat off competition from a number of companies. These included Veolia Environmental Services, Verdant Group, Cory Environmental Services and Biffa Waste Services.
They were joined on the list by property services firm Connaught's waste management arm Connaught Environmental Services; infrastructure and consultancy company Accord Operations; Rochdale-based management firm Focsa Services; utilities and property maintenance company Enterprise Managed Services.
SITA UK's municipal operations director David Foster said: “We're delighted to have been awarded the contract with Warwick district council and are looking forward to working with the council and the residents to help improve recycling rates and meet the targets for landfill diversion.”
Warwick district council has suggested the scheme be called Sort-It because it does not directly link with any organisation. This is the name used for household waste recycling, collection and disposal schemes in other parts of the country including its 25-year PFI deal with South Gloucestershire county council.
The contract with Warwick district will offer flexibility to deal with properties that have problems accommodating wheelie bins, such as flats.
It also includes street cleansing and cleansing of other areas such as public conveniences, housing land and public open space.
Register for free to comment