Bridgend Council’s Cabinet is set to approve the tender of a two-year waste and recycling contract (pdf).
The current contract with Kier will end on 31st March 2024, at which point Kier is set to leave the recycling sector altogether.
As previously reported, the council believes a stop-gap contract is needed while they consider the long-term options for waste and recycling. Initially, the plan was for a two-year extension with Kier but that’s no longer possible.
Officers further justify the need for a temporary contract due to:
- Uncertainty around Welsh Government recycling and waste targets beyond April 2024.
- The possible introduction of deposit return schemes in Wales.
- Tougher rules on producer responsibility.
- The need to decarbonise the waste collection fleet. BCBC is considering electric and hydrogen vehicles, though in the short-term, Kier is considering running vehicles on hydrogenated vegetable oil (at an additional cost of £75,000-per-year).
The main obstacle is that the council would have to buy all vehicles and property from Kier – subject to negotiations.
The long-term options post-2026 for waste and recycling services include continuing with an external contractor, sharing waste and recycling services with a neighbouring local authority or bringing waste and recycling in-house (whether run directly by BCBC or at arms-length).
Bridgend is currently one of the top-performing local authorities in Wales for recycling, with the recycling rate set to hit 73% in 2021-22.
Despite ongoing and well-publicised problems in places with communal collections like Wildmill, there are generally high satisfaction rates. In 2021, a council survey found that 76% of respondents thought household recycling and waste collections were either very good or fairly good.
