South Oxfordshire councils renew Biffa deal to 2024

The seven-year extension to the contract, which will now run to June 2024, is worth around 70 million to the Buckinghamshire-based company.

Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire jointly procured the contract with Biffa in 2009 and its progress is overseen by the councils joint waste and recycling team based in Wallingford.

The authorities finished in the top two positions in the English recycling league table in 2011/12, with Vale of White Horse achieving a recycling rate of 68.7% and South Oxfordshire 67.9%. Vale of White Horse slipped to third in the table in 2012/13 with a recycling rate of 65.1%, whilst South Oxfordshire held on to the second spot despite its recycling rate slipping to 65.3%.

The contractor carries out alternate weekly collections of dry recycling and residual waste on behalf of the authorities.

Collections

Recyclables are collected commingled in a 240 litre wheeled bin and include paper, cardboard, metal, mixed rigid plastics, glass and batteries. These are sent to Biffas materials recycling facilities in Edmonton and Aldridge for sorting.

Biffa also provides weekly collections of food waste, which is sent for treatment to Agriverts anaerobic digestion facility at Cassington, and a charged-for fortnightly garden waste collection service.

Commenting on the extension, the councils’ head of corporate strategy Clare Kingston, said: I’m particularly looking forward to any changes we can make over the coming years to further improve the service for our residents, as we have them to thank for our superb recycling rates.

Our working relationship with Biffa is a hugely successful one, and I anticipate an equally successful future.

Services

The contract also includes managing a transfer station, running a dedicated call centre, and handling local recycling education and communication activities with the residents of around 110,000 properties across the two districts.

Biffa development director Pete Dickson, said: This uplifting news reflects the excellent work that Biffa has put in, and the results achieved for South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse.

The extension also recognises the reality of todays public sector financial pressures. This agreement provides some peace-of-mind to the client councils as they have locked in longer term costs and prices, helping maximise overall contract value.

In March, Biffa announced contract extensions worth a total of 110 million with seven of its local authority clients (see letsrecycle.com story).