Four waste management firms and a consortium of two companies have made the shortlist for Isle of Wight Council’s new waste contract.

From the nine companies that expressed an interest in bidding for the contract (and passed the pre-qualification stage), five have now been shortlisted to progress to the next stage of the tender process. These are: Biffa, AmeyCespa, Veolia, FCC Environment, and a consortium of Viridor and Serco.

The five bidders will now have to submit proposals on how they plan to collect and process the island’s waste while meeting the ‘strict targets’ set by the council.

Waste contract details

The new contract, due to start in October 2015, will replace the existing integrated municipal waste contract which has been operated by Island Waste Services (a subsidiary of Biffa) since 1997.

Under the waste contract, the winning bidder will have to:

• achieve a 55 per cent recycling and composting rate for all municipal waste by 2020 (rising to 60 per cent by 2025);
• divert 90 per cent of all municipal waste from landfill by 2025;
• ‘maximise’ landfill diversion, recycling, and recovery of energy;meet the council’s ‘legal and strategic objectives’; and
• reduce the ‘long-term financial commitment for waste management for the council’.

Councillor Luisa Hillard, cabinet member for sustainability, said: “It is still early days in the process, but I trust the initial solutions for the collection, recycling and treatment of our residential waste will be an exciting mix of innovation and proven technology that should help the island to become more sustainable, as aspired to in the Framework for Change.”

Councillor Jonathan Gilbey, cabinet member for resources, added: “We are determined this contract will be to the island’s long-term advantage, both in terms of achieving the best possible recycling rates and an efficient and economically-viable waste collection and processing service for Island residents.

“The new contract provides us with the opportunity to analyse and review in detail how we collect and use our waste on the island, especially with a view to our increasing population and the amount of waste we produce and recycle.”

New recycling sack collection points

In the meantime, the council has announced that residents needing to restock on clear recycling sacks can now do so from their local library.

Currently, homeowners need to contact the council to request a delivery if they run out or are getting low on their recycling sacks (for dry recyclables), which the council says can take ‘up to four weeks’ to deliver.

To cut down on this time, and save money, council- and community-run libraries will now stock clear recycling sacks for collection.

However, residents are still required to contact the council beforehand so that they can be issued with a reference number, which is needed for collection. The council says that this will ensure that stocks are ‘correctly managed and allocated as appropriate’. The delivery service will continue in tandem with the library collection scheme.

Speaking of the changes,
Sue Dasent, Strategic Manager for Procurement and Contract Management, said: "Although households that use clear recycling sacks are given an annual supply in January each year, some residents recycle more and therefore run out of bags before their next delivery.

"We then arrange for additional sacks to be sent out to the homeowner but this is a costly exercise and is also a lengthy process. We are pleased that residents will be able to collect their bags from their local library."

Residents wishing to request clear recycling sacks they can pick up from their local library are asked to call (01983) 823777.