The company, which began supplying the service on April 1, will handle all recycling and waste collections for the city's 63,000 households as part of an arrangement which represents the first time either Verdant or Connaught have entered into this kind of strategic partnership.
The waste and recycling collections were previously operated by CityCare, a joint venture established by the city's council's previous services provider, facilities management company Morrison, and Veolia.
The majority of households in Norwich currently receive an alternate weekly collection of waste and recycling, with recyclables including paper, card, plastic bottles, aerosols and steel and aluminium cans collected commingled one week in a blue wheeled bin and residual waste collected in the other week. Glass is also collected, using a green box.
The existing team of around 70 staff working on the service have transferred to Verdant's employment and the company is also using the 20 existing vehicles – though it plans to introduce a new fleet run on 100% biodiesel and offering greater flexibility and flexible configurations for higher productivity in the longer term.
Verdant's development director Pete Dickson claimed that the company's service was designed to increase the city's recycling, which topped 34% in 2008/09, to “well over” 50%, and said winning the deal representing “an exciting opportunity to make a difference”.
Commenting on the decision to select Verdant for the outsourcing contract, Su Brant, area partner for Connaught, said: “We felt at home with the Verdant team, their understanding of the client's service need and their enthusiasm for delivering the right solution.
“Verdant's contract may be one of the smaller lots we have won in Norwich, but it is one of the services that are most visible to residents, officers and councillors alike,” she added.
And, Norwich city council's head of service, Adrian Akester, claimed the tendering process would save the council more than £1 million, and said the selection of Connaught and Verdant was a “vote of confidence” for their plans for the service.
Court injunction
Connaught had been named as preferred bidder for Norwich's £125 million integrated services contract in November 2009, but the final award of the deal was delayed after London-based Morrison Facilities Services launched a court injunction over the award of the housing repairs aspect of the deal.
But, earlier this month (April 1) the council confirmed that a settlement had been reached with Morrison, and Connaught began running the services under a short-term contract on April 1, before the formal long-term deal began last week (April 8).
This comes after an earlier threat of an injunction from Morrison specifically over the award of the waste and recycling collection aspect of the deal was dropped as the company's legal case reached London's High Court on February 22 2010.
Resolution
Commenting on the resolution of the legal issue, a spokeswoman for Norwich city council said the council was “pleased” it had been dealt with, and added: “Starting from today our two main contractors, Connaught Partnerships Limited and Norse Commercial Services Limited, will begin work on delivering the council's multi-million pound services.
“This includes all the vital services our residents rely on such as council house repairs, waste and recycling, grounds maintenance and street cleaning.”
The sentiments were echoed by Peter Jones, chief executive of Connaught Partnerships, who said he was “delighted” the council and Morrison had reached agreement and that the legal challenge had ended, adding that “we are ideally positioned to ensure a seamless delivery of service as we begin work today on all eight contracts we have now been awarded.”
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