Biffa has secured an eight-year household waste and recycling contract with Winchester City Council.
The contract, which will commence in September 2020, will see the national recycling and waste management provider continue to provide the waste collection service with a bid that provided best value for money along with including a package of service improvements.
The new contract will include: a new free household collection of small electrical items such as unwanted toasters, kettles or clocks for recycling; a new vehicle fleet to replace older lorries with Euro6 compliant vehicles which emit lower levels of harmful exhaust pollutants; a greater use of narrower vehicles to improve access in smaller streets and reduce congestion on busy roads; and bin lorries with new technology on board that will provide real-time information to alert the depot to issues and improve collection rates (check) and support ongoing improvements to collection reliability.
The council is working with Biffa to ensure household waste collections and the new glass collection service are carried out on time across the district, and to reduce the number of missed bins.
Winchester City Council Cabinet Member for Service Quality and Transformation Cllr Martin Tod, said: “A big priority for our bin service has been to recycle more and cut the number of missed bins – and Biffa and the people working for Biffa have been really good partners in making that happen. While we won’t be happy until no bins are missed, the latest figures show we’ve made really good progress – much better than the same time last year. And we’ve got plans to improve the service even further.
“Biffa won the new contract after a rigorous tender process that ranked bidders by value and quality standards. Under the new contract, routes will be covered by staff who already know the area well. It will provide an enhanced service, including a new recycling collection for small electric items, and the use of greener vehicles in line with our goals to reduce carbon emissions.”
Winchester City Council has committed to making the council carbon neutral by 2024, and the wider district by 2030.
