The contract with Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge & Malling borough councils – also known as the South West Kent Waste Partnership – is for an initial eight-years and covers 101,000 homes. It also includes street cleansing services across both boroughs.
Four tenders were evaluated in detail by the councils with equal weighting of 50% given to both price and responses to quality questions.
Price
From the evaluation, one of the other tenderers offered higher quality levels albeit at a higher price. But details of the marking are restricted although the preferred bidder (Urbaser) submitted the lowest price and therefore received the “full percentage allocation” of 50%.
Ubraser scored “highest for cost and second for quality with the overall highest score”.
The contract will begin on 30 March 2019 in Tunbridge Wells and on 1 March 2019 in Tonbridge & Malling. It could run for up to a maximum of 18 years, with mutual agreement of the two partner authorities.
NOM
It will be based on the Nominal Optimum Method (NOM) which the Tunbridge Wells council hails as best practice from resources charity WRAP, who it says are “experts in recycling”.
“The NOM” is the nominal optimum method of collection or the most cost effective service arrangement to balance performance and the overall costs associated with the collection, treatment and disposal of the material collected, according to a cabinet document. It is also one of the three service configurations in the WRAP national guidance “A framework for greater consistency in household recycling in England”.
The service will include the collection of glass jars and bottles together with plastics and cans for recycling, paper and cardboard; a separate weekly collection of food waste; a fortnightly residual waste collection; and, an “opt in” fortnightly chargeable garden waste collection service.
The contract will also take advantage of “new developments in waste removing and recycling market that may reduce the overall cost”.
It is expected that with the adoption of the NOM in Tunbridge Wells that the recycling rate will increase to 55% from just under 50%. However, the proposals will mean “significant change” to the service, the cabinet document notes.
Agreement
Tunbridge Wells council’s waste and recycling collections are currently provided by Biffa, under a 10-year contract which began in 2009 (see letsrecycle.com story). The contract was initially awarded to Cory Environmental, which sold its municipal contracts to Biffa in June 2016 as part of a restructuring of the business (see letsrecycle.com story).
Meanwhile, Tonbridge & Malling council’s waste and recycling collections are provided by Veolia. It is understood this contract is worth £4.3m per annum and covers 52,000 households.
A key part of the new contract for the two councils is its link with Kent county council. An Inter Authority Agreement (IAA) agreement between the two councils as waste collection authorities and Kent as the waste disposal authority has been drawn up.
The aim of the IAA is to encourage increased levels of recycling by providing the collection councils with an incentive to maximise kerbside recycling, directly reducing the waste disposal costs for Kent.
Under the agreement the Tonbridge & Malling and Tunbridge Wells agree to stick to the NOM collection method until at least 2027 and deliver recyclables to transfer points and facilities specified by Kent. The county council is to retain responsibility for the haulage and disposal of all materials and “will endeavour to maximise the value of income from the sale of waste materials”.
Rigorous
“The criteria we used in selecting Urbaser ensures residents are given a high-quality service that offers value for money.”
Cllr Ronen Basu
Tunbridge Wells borough council
“Before appointing Urbaser we carried out a rigorous procurement exercise over a number of months,” said Cllr Ronen Basu, Tunbridge Wells borough council’s cabinet member for sustainability.
“The criteria we used in selecting Urbaser ensures residents are given a high-quality service that offers value for money and introduces new elements to the service that we know households will benefit from.”
Urbaser Ltd has been delivering environmental services since 1993. Its parent company notes that is the third largest environmental services provider in Europe, and also operates in Asia, North Africa and South America.
In the UK, Urbaser Ltd says it has won 11 local municipal waste services contracts since 2010.
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