Decision details

The decision has been made to support a Procurement Event Approval Document (PEAD) for Processing & Recycling of DMR, Paper and Card.

The current contract for DMR is due to expire on 31/08/2024 but will be extended under waiver to cover BMBC’s statutory requirement in line with the new supplier’s mobilisation lead time. The contract for paper & card ceased voluntarily and the requirement has been covered via ad-hoc arrangements with various suppliers and will continue to do so in line with the new supplier’s mobilisation lead time.

The new contract will be in 2 lots, 1 will cover the receipt handling and treatment of approximately 6000 tonnes of paper and cardboard. The 2^nd will cover the receipt handling and treatment of approximately 10600 tonnes of DMR, which comprises of glass, cans, plastic bottles, pots tubs and trays collected from the kerbside.

Re-procurement of contracts for the processing and recycling of household waste and commercial waste from kerbside collections aims to maximise the percentage of recycling and any other benefits in line with market conditions. The procurement will include futureproofing to cover the, as yet unknown, requirements of Environmental Legislation.

Market testing has been undertaken for paper & card to maximise any potential benefits for pricing mechanisms and target markets. The Competitive procurement process will be followed that encourages multiple contractors to bid. The proposed contract period will be 3 years plus 2 x 12month extensions. The evaluation criteria main split will be based on, Price 60%, Quality 35%, Social Value 5%.

Over the period of the last contract, the recycling markets experienced volatility caused by; restrictions on exporting recycling, Brexit, COVID-19, rising energy prices, and more recently, the war in Ukraine. This is further evidenced by our previous residual waste contractor Renewi, when they announced the sale of its British municipal division to Biffa earlier this year after branding the UK market “unpredictable” The sale has since completed.

Due to this market volatility, we are unable to predict the cost impact of the reprocurement of these contracts.

This is not a service that the council has the option of providing in house as this requires the development of infrastruture, such as a materials recycling facility and paper mill.