A £6.2-million contract has been agreed between waste management company Viridor and Kent County Council.

Viridor, which was recently acquired by KKR for £4.2 billion, renewed its contract with Kent County Council for a further 12 months, having first signed the dry mixed recycling contract six years ago.

The new contract covers more than 62,000 tonnes of recycling, including glass, paper, card, household plastics and aluminium cans from Ashford, Maidstone, Swale, Gravesham, Dartford and parts of Royal Tunbridge Wells and Malling.

The recycling will continue to be processed at Viridor’s material recycling facility (MRF) in Crayford, where around 300,000 tonnes of co-mingled recyclate from 29 local authorities are already processed.

The new contract further expands Viridor’s local authority household recycling and waste portfolio, adding to other contracts such as Clyde Valley’s residual waste contract and its renewed recycling contract with Ealing Council.

Simon Prior, Head of Local Authority Development and Integrated Contracts at Viridor, said: “A crucial aspect of this contract has been Viridor’s ability to demonstrate the onward journey of recycling, particularly plastic, through our investment in specialist recycling and reprocessing plants here in the UK, specifically at Rochester in Kent and Skelmersdale in Lancashire.”

David Beaver, Head of Waste Management Services at Kent County Council, said: “Processing recyclable materials as close to the point of collection remains the strategic goal for the disposal authority, but for Viridor to treat and reprocess materials within the UK is of equal importance and valued by the Authority.”

Meanwhile, Viridor’s Commercial Director Paul Ringham commented: “We know local authorities want to demonstrate to their residents that taking the time to recycle at home and reduce contamination has a massive impact on our everyone’s recycling targets.

“Increasingly, residents and their local authorities want to demonstrate their commitment to environmental and sustainability goals in a meaningful way, and investment in advanced recycling infrastructure is how Viridor is able to support the commitment councils make to residents.

“Our commitment to investment in this crucial infrastructure, addressing the reprocessing gap and returning UK resources to UK manufacturers and consumers brands will continue.

“Viridor will prioritise opportunities to link this infrastructure with our fleet of energy recovery facilities, the combined heat and power plants, which demonstrates Viridor’s emphasis on both resource and energy efficiency.”

Viridor recently released its annual Recycling Index, which found that a vast majority of the British public believe that producers and manufacturers should cover the costs of recycling rather than local authorities and waste management companies.