Amey was awarded the contract to manage collection services on behalf of Elmbridge, Woking, Surrey Heath and Mole Valley as part of a joint procurement delivered by the Surrey Waste Partnership in December 2016 (see letsrecycle.com story).
The contract is part of an effort within Surrey to integrate waste services with work ongoing to form a new single-tier organisation which will oversee all collections and disposal of waste across Surrey.
County councillors voted last year to integrate some of the county’s disposal functions to the four authorities to ‘demonstrate the early benefits of single tier working’, ‘deliver savings’ and ‘reduce duplications inherent in the current system’, which will be overseen by Joint Waste Solutions.
Recruitment
The new organisation will combine the existing waste services from the four authorities and be led by its newly appointed director, Matt Smyth who joins from Surrey county council.
While all 12 Surrey councils are part of the Surrey Waste Partnership, only Elmbridge, Woking, Surrey Heath and Mole Valley have so far agreed to be part of a joint collection contract.
Mr Smyth, said: “The formation of Joint Waste Solutions marks an exciting step forward. I firmly believe that working together is the best way to realise savings while maintaining an excellent service for our residents.”
The original project to explore a joint contract was initiated and part funded by the Surrey Waste Partnership which consists of the county council and all 11 district and borough councils. Four were ready to go ahead immediately, but the contract framework has been developed in a way that will enable other councils to join at a later stage.
It covers all aspects of waste collection including household waste, recycling, food waste, garden waste, bring banks, clinical waste, bulky waste, replacement bins and the scope to introduce a commercial waste service. It will also include street cleaning and associated activities including street sweeping, bin emptying, weed control, graffiti clearance, and fly-tipping and fly-posting removal.
Elmbridge will be the first to change to the new contract from 3 June followed by Woking from 11 September. The new service will include the introduction of a weekly collection of textiles and waste electronic and electrical equipment, as well as an enhanced bulky waste collection service. It will be rolled out to Surrey Heath and Mole Valley in 2018.
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