Cornwall Council has agreed a new waste and recycling collections contract with waste management company Biffa.

The contract, which will cover waste and recycling collections and street and public space cleansing, will begin on 3 October 2020 and run for eight years with an option to extend for a further two. Biffa initially took over the council’s collections contract from Cory in June 2016 and the new contract consolidates Biffa’s three existing waste services contracts in the county.

Volumes of recyclable materials collected at the kerbside are expected to increase by 59 per cent over the course of the contract from 37,330 tonnes in 2020/21 to 59,277 tonnes in 2027/28. Meanwhile, residual waste is expected to decrease by 30 per cent from 136,549 tonnes to 98,430 tonnes over the same period. The value of the contract will remain confidential until the contract is signed in March and the council’s statement of accounts is published.

As part of the contract, a new state-of-the-art collection fleet and new wheeled bins will be deployed, while changes to the collection service will include a weekly separate food waste collection and fortnightly recycling and residual waste collections.

Collected materials will be taken to the council’s range of recycling facilities across Cornwall, which are managed by waste management company SUEZ, where waste and recycling is processed and baled for onward transportation. The council has a 30-year contract with SUEZ, which is currently at its halfway stage.

The changes aim to provide a significant boost to the council’s recycling rate, which stood at 38.1 per cent for 2018/19. From summer 2021, a new communications campaign targeting every household in Cornwall will explain how each resident can contribute to increasing recycling in the county, with particular focus on the benefits of food waste recycling, maximising composting and using new equipment including wheeled bins and food waste caddies.

Commenting on the new contract, Cornwall Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment and Public Protection, Rob Nolan, said: “This contract sees Cornwall poised to transform its recycling, something residents told us in our 2017 survey was a priority. We are very pleased to be continuing to work with Biffa. Following very positive collaborative dialogue and a ‘can do’ approach by everyone – including the bidding companies – we now have a way of hitting impressive recycling targets.”

“If, like most of the top-performing parts of the UK, we begin putting our food waste out for collection every week from summer 2021, we can in one leap transform our recycling rates from the currently disappointing 38 per cent to over 50 per cent.”

Roger Edwards, Managing Director of Biffa Municipal Ltd, added: “We are delighted to have been nominated as the preferred bidder for the new Cornwall contract. We are looking forward to introducing new services to significantly improve recycling rates. The local Biffa team pride themselves on the excellent service provided to date and we look forward to continuing our productive working relationship with Cornwall Council.”