City of Wolverhampton Council is poised to approve a £5 million contract for waste disposal services, with a focus on increasing recycling rates and minimizing landfill usage. The existing disposal contract expires in October, and the new agreement would initially span three years, with an option to extend by an additional year.
Contract Details and Environmental Targets
The council has outlined that the £5 million contract will incorporate specific targets to enhance the amount of waste recycled across the city while reducing rubbish sent to landfill. The proposal will be reviewed by the council's Labour cabinet next week.
According to the cabinet report, this procurement aims to consolidate contracts for waste services, grounds maintenance, and fly-tipping management. This approach ensures consistency and audited environmental compliance for all waste disposal from environmental services over a four-year period.
The report states: "This procurement will combine contracts for waste services, grounds maintenance and fly-tipping to ensure consistency and audited environmental compliance in the disposal of all waste from environmental services for four years."
Service Provisions
The proposed contract will secure services enabling council waste teams to directly deliver green waste, household waste recycling centre (HWRC) wastes, skips, and mixed loads of fly-tipping to compliant providers. Additionally, licensed services will be in place for collecting mattresses, persistent organic pollutants in soft furnishings, and hazardous wastes such as chemicals and gas bottles.
Financial Breakdown
Over the four-year period, up to £1.38 million will be allocated for recycling garden waste from kerbside collections and tips, as well as green waste collected by council staff. The council also seeks a provider to recycle household rubble, plasterboard, and hard plastics from tips at a cost of £1.48 million. Another provider will handle recycling mattresses and soft furnishings containing persistent organic pollutants for £1.8 million.
Additional allocations include £432,000 for a provider to accept, recycle, and dispose of mixed loads of skip and fly-tipping waste, £100,000 for hazardous waste disposal including gas bottles, household chemicals, and commercial fridges, and £64,600 for incinerating clinical waste.
The cabinet meeting is scheduled for May 27.
