A consultation into changes to the authority’s service, which includes a move to three-weekly residual waste collections from fortnightly, opens on 26 February.
The consultation also includes options for weekly food waste collections, the collection of additional materials (paper and glass), and a year-round fortnightly collection of garden waste with a charge of £40.
Mid Bedfordshire district council and South Bedfordshire district council merged in 2009 to become Central Bedfordshire council. Both councils hold collection contracts with Biffa which come to an end in March 2019.
According to the authority, the current collections and disposal of waste from 118,000 homes costs around £14 million per year.
Savings
The authority says the options for change could save over £2 million each year.
According to a report by the authority, the modelled advantages of the three-weekly system are tonnages of residual waste decreased by up to 20%, and recycling rates could reach 57% as residents further sort their recycling.
The potential overall annualised cost on this option is £1,785k, with an additional £1m saving on this option alone, the report states.
The council notes that only 17 out of 369 district and unitary authorities responsible for waste collection have moved to a 3 weekly collection of residual waste.
In terms of the treatment and disposal of kerbside collected recycling, the council says “the value of recyclates has declined significantly over the last 2-3 years and the favourable rates the contract originally offered are no longer tenable”.
The authority said it is therefore “sensible” to approach the market to ensure it secures the “best possible rate” for its kerbside collected recycling.
Volatile market
The council said: “The market for recycling is extremely volatile and material sales values fluctuate widely over a short period of time. Therefore it is proposed to structure the contract as a 1 year with 2 single year extensions to make it more attractive to the market.”
The procurement will also will be run jointly with Bedford borough council (but in two separate lots with separate contracts) so that the combined tonnage of waste is larger and offers “a greater opportunity” for potential providers, the council notes.
When contacted by letsrecycle.com, councillor Budge Wells, deputy executive member for community services, said: “Our current bin collection contracts are coming to an end, so now is the ideal opportunity to review the service to explore options to increase efficiency and value for money, maximise the use of technology and increase levels of recycling (article continues below).
Options
Cllr Wells said: “We are considering various options for change at the moment and will be consulting local residents on these options very soon.
“Before we make a decision about any changes, we want to know what our residents think about each of the options, and what combination of options might work best. This is a service that every household uses so it is really important that everyone has the opportunity to take part in our consultation.”
The council accessed consultancy support from environmental consultant Eunomia, funded by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) under its consistency agenda. The resulting project included investigating all options available to the council for service design and commenced in April 2017.
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