Bridgend Council’s Cabinet is set to discuss a recently published consultant’s report on options for the county’s waste and recycling services beyond 2026 (pdf).
Plan B Management Solutions – taking over from Kier – recently began a two-year interim contract to give BCBC enough time to consider their long-term options. The Plan B contract has a one-year extension clause if required.
The options were covered here in more detail recently.
In summary, the three options are: bringing waste and recycling services back in-house; establishing a council-owned company (LatCo) to run waste services; and continuing to outsource the service to a private contractor.
There were a few more details provided in the Cabinet report.
Before the consultant’s report was commissioned, the possibility of sharing waste and recycling services with neighbouring councils was explored. However, this option was not pursued due to limited cost savings, lack of interest from other councils, and the added complication of different councils collecting rubbish in different ways.
Also, regardless of how waste services are delivered post-2026, it was recommended that the council should buy new recycling vehicles (or upgrade the existing fleet) as part of a rolling fleet replacement programme.
Outsourcing “most practical option”
A council scrutiny committee expressed a preference for the LatCo and in-house options to be considered further.
Since then, the consultants have come back with figures suggesting that the LatCo option would end up being the most expensive option overall due to local government pension entitlements for staff.
Based on that, officers now recommend the council continue to outsource the recycling contract from 2026. It would be “significantly less demanding on resources” and the “least cost and risk in the short-term”.
This is despite the consultant’s report suggesting a lack of interest by some of the big waste management companies (such as Biffa) in taking on local authority waste contracts.
Subject to Cabinet approval, a new 7-year waste and recycling contract will be drafted to start in April 2026.
A public consultation, pencilled in for summer 2024, will then follow a report on the contract details presented to the Cabinet.
