Bespoke Recycling Solutions was established in 2018 and operates a 75,000 tonne materials recycling facility in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, around 150 miles east from Stoke.
Bespoke Recycling is also contracted to accept North East Lincolnshire council’s kerbside recycling.
According to a tender notice published on the government’s portal last week (2 June), the contract begun on 1 May 2023 and will run until 30 April 2028. It includes the transportation of dry mixed recycling direct to the contractor’s facility, the sorting of recyclable materials and the delivery of the sorted output materials to the contractors designated processors.
‘Timed perfectly’
A spokesperson from Bespoke told letsrecycle.com: “We are delighted to be working with the Stoke-on-Trent team in the management of their kerbside recycling, as well as helping them work toward their long-term sustainability and environmental objectives. The contract is timed perfectly in line with our latest phase of development, allowing us to precisely tailor operations to the Stoke waste profile so that we can maximise recovery of recyclable materials.”
Cllr Amjid Wazir, cabinet member for environment and enforcement added: “We look forward to working in partnership with Bespoke to fulfil this critical service safely, efficiently, and economically.”
Processing
The contract was previously held by Northern Ireland’s Re-Gen Waste, which held the deal since 2016 and processed material at its plant in Newry.
In December 2022, the council met to approve plans to go to the market for a contractor to transport and collect its recycling.
In the minutes, Stoke said it was paying £130 per tonne for the collection and processing of its dry mixed recycling. It added that “between April 2021 to March 2022 18,440 tonnes of DMR were collected and processed equating to a pro-rata processing cost of £2,397,200”.
If dividing the total value of the contract by the value, the new deal would work out at a similar rate £2.4 milllion per year. The contract however does not include details of tonnages.
Stoke is also exploring plans to build its own materials recycling facility in the area, and said in December that “this option will be further reviewed following the outcome of this tender exercise”.
Stoke-on-Trent operates with an in-house waste collection crew and reported a 34.5% recycling rate in 2021/22. It operates a twin-stream recycling service with paper being collected in a green bin and other dry mixed recycling, including cartons, in a blue bin.
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