As first reported by letsrecycle.com in February, Suez won a competitive tender process to secure the contracts, seeing off competition for the work from Veolia and Viridor (see letsrecycle.com story).
The contracts involve the management of 1.1 million tonnes of municipal waste per year from over 1 million households across nine districts: Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside and Trafford.
This will see Suez operate 41 facilities over 24 sites, including four mechanical treatment and Rail Head reception facilities, 20 household waste recycling centres, eight transfer loading stations, a thermal recovery plant and a materials recovery facility.
Beginning from tomorrow (June 1), the contracts will run for an initial seven years, with options to extend for a further three, and then five years.
‘Partnership’
Commenting on the milestone, Cllr Allison Gwynne, chair of the GMCA Waste and Recycling Committee, said: “We are extremely pleased with the result of the procurement process and are confident that our new partnership with Suez will provide opportunities to enable us to increase recycling of household waste which is key to moving towards a more circular economy.
“This is another step towards making Greater Manchester one of the leading Green City regions in the UK.”
The contract award comes as the company also looks set to pick up a major collections contract to collect waste from households in Somerset, worth close to £210 million over 10 years (see letsrecycle.com story).
Improvements
David Palmer-Jones, chief executive of Suez recycling and recovery UK, said: “We are delighted to be working with GMCA and were inspired by their visionary approach to ensuring that the contracts deliver environmental improvements and added social value for Greater Manchester.
“We have made over 50 social value commitments and are particularly excited about how our plans for funds raised through re-use initiativeswill benefit the Mayor’s Homelessness Fund and other community projects across the city-region. We very much look forward to playing our part in helping deliver the ‘Five Year Environment Plan’ for Greater Manchester.”
Bertrand Camus, the newly appointed chief executive of Suez in Paris, has also hailed the contact award as ‘strenghtening’ the company’s activities in the UK.
He said: “We are proud to be working with Greater Manchester’s teams in its sustainable waste management. As the waste volumes represent 4% of the total UK volume, this new contract will significantly strengthen our activities in the country.
“As the waste volumes represent 4% of the total UK volume, this new contract will significantly strengthen our activities in the country.“
Bertrand Camus
Suez
“It is evidence of our commitment to support its environmental transition, where we see huge opportunities to develop creative new partnerships with local authorities and business.”
Waste services were previously provided by Viridor Laing under a PFI contract with the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority (GMWDA) which was terminated in 2017.
After taking over the region’s waste disposal powers, GMCA opted to break the contract up into three parts, with a separate contract for the treatment of commingled food and garden waste – totalling 125,000 tonnes per year – via in-vessel composting facilities, currently being procured. The biowaste treatment framework contract is expected to be valued at £35 million over four years.
‘Happier times’
The award of the contract today marks happier times for SUEZ UK which was formerly known as SITA UK.
Back in 2011 it failed to win High Court approval for a damages claim against the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority after it failed to win the £4 billion waste PFI contract, which had been won by Viridor (see letsrecycle.com story).
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