Agenda item

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“1     Purpose of Report

1.1    To provide a summary on the recent procurement exercise for the provision of a glass, kerbside collection scheme and recommendations for next steps.

2       Background

2.1    One of the initiatives contained within the ‘Towards Zero Waste’ Action Plan 2012-15 (ZAP plan) is the collection of glass from households in the blue bin area.  At the time of drafting this Plan it was anticipated that, once fully introduced, this initiative would contribute an additional 2.5% to the Council’s recycling rate.       

2.2    Given the delays in the original plans for a glass collection service procured by arc21 in 2012/13 arising from the threat of legal action, Members agreed to an interim, contingency arrangement whereby a 44 litre kerbside box for glass was rolled-out to 22,000 households.  When the arc21 tender process was terminated due to affordability issues, Members agreed at the January 2014 Committee meeting that the Council should commence a procurement exercise using the existing arrangements as a template to deliver this service specifically for Belfast.

2.3    In October 2014 a tender was issued for a suitable contractor to provide a mixed glass, kerbside collection and recycling service for approximately 88,000 households in the outer city area (blue bin scheme), including an estimated 13,500 apartments. 

2.4    A two stage Open Procedure was used with the first being a qualifying stage, requiring bidders to demonstrate the necessary ability, capacity and experience to meet our contract requirements.  Two companies progressed to stage two.  Both submissions provided valid proposals for ensuring the service requirements would be met.  However, the costs in the most economically advantageous bid were higher than expected, from benchmarking and other assessments undertaken, and raised issues in terms of a value for money and the apportionment of risk. A number of caveats raised about issues over the course of the proposed seven year term of the contract presented additional risks and costs for the Council. 

3       Key Issues

3.1    The procurement exercise for the provision of a kerbside collection of glass has concluded. On a cost and risk basis, and having reviewed similar contracts in the UK, the Service’s conclusion is that the proposed scheme is substantially more expensive than was expected and it would not represent value for money.  The conclusion is that no tender award should be made.

3.2    In light of this result, the Council will need to consider the future of the existing, interim, contingency arrangement to the 22,000 households already on the kerbside box scheme for glass which is split into north, south, east and west and is delivered by the Council.  Working with Cleansing Services to review how the pilot scheme could continue to be delivered, the Service believes that standardising the arrangements using appropriate fixed-term contract staff and hiring the necessary vehicles could be accommodated from within the budget allocated for the contract.

3.3    The Council has been projecting a year end 2014/15 recycling rate of around 44%.  Incorporating the new Belfast areas and rolling out this kerbside box scheme, the Service projected that the recycling rate should have remained mainly stable for 2015/16, as reported verbally to the Transition Committee in December.  The non-award of the city-wide glass collection tender combined with indications of a recent significant growth in residual waste arisings have led to a tentative downward revision of the projected recycling rate for 2015/16.

3.4    As an alternative to providing the proposed kerbside collection scheme for glass in the outer city, the Service recommends that in addition to maintaining the pilot collection service, the separate collection of glass at the Council’s household recycling centres (HRCs), CA sites and bring banks should be extended, especially in the new Belfast areas.  The Service will therefore explore opportunities to expand the bring bank network into the LGR areas and the facilities could be highlighted to residents through a more targeted and concerted campaign over the next year. This should help make some redress to the recycling rate.

3.5    Adopting the recommendations within this report provides the Council an opportunity to continue to provide a glass collection service for those households already receiving a service while also considering the outcome of the route optimisation exercise for waste collection when completed in the autumn. 

3.6    In the next few months, Waste Management will be drafting the next version (2015-2020) of the Waste Plan which will outline actions for the Council to take towards delivering the 2020 waste diversion and recycling target.  This draft will be brought back to the Committee for consideration later this year. Given the inherent weight in glass, the collection of this material will remain key but in view of various forthcoming or indicated EU, UK and NI changes in legislation or criteria there may be opportunities to reconsider the collection methodology used as part of a more holistic review. 

4       Resource Implications

4.1    Financial, human resources and other implications

         The tenders received exceeded the budget for the provision of a separate glass collection service for 2015/16 and did not represent value for money.

4.2    By not awarding this contract it will be possible to retain the current pilot glass collection service within the budget set for 2015/16. In order to continue to deliver the pilot glass collection service it will be necessary to recruit fixed-term contract squads and in addition hire the necessary vehicles.  Both these costs and the costs of additional bring sites provision for glass can be accommodated from within the 2015/16 budget provisions.   

5       Equality and Good Relations Implications

5.1   There are no relevant equality and good relations implication associated with this report.

6       Call In

6.1    This decision is subject to call In.

7       Recommendation

         The Committee is asked to agree the following recommendations:

7.1    That the procurement exercise for the provision of a kerbside glass collection scheme be concluded without award. 

7.2    The interim Kerbside Glass Collection Scheme involving 22,000 households is maintained to allow for consideration of the impact of the various emerging changes in government guidance in terms of alternative options for the collection of glass.

7.3    In addition to maintaining the pilot, the Council promotes the collection of glass through the HRCs, CA sites and glass bring bank facilities and explores opportunities to expand the bring banks, particularly focused towards the transferring areas.

7.4    It notes that the issues raised by the report will be factored into the review during 2015/16 of the Council’s next five year Waste Action Plan.”

            The Committee adopted the recommendations.