NLWA confirms Greenstar and Bywaters contracts
Tuesday 14 July 2009 Councils News
The North London Waste Authority today (July 14) confirmed that it has awarded two five-year MRF contracts to recycling firms Bywaters and Greenstar UK.
The two interim deals are set to run from October 2009 to December 2014 while £3 billion worth of new treatment facilities are developed by the Authority - which handles waste on behalf of the seven London boroughs of Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest.
Under the arrangement, Bromley-by-Bow-based Bywaters and Irish-owned Greenstar will each sort 40,000 tonnes of recyclables a year, rising to 70,000 tonnes-a-year over the course of the contracts.
Bywaters and Greenstar emerged as favourites for the deals following a North London Waste Authority (NLWA) meeting last month (June 24), where the Authority opted to award two interim deals in order to spread the risk of awarding one large contract (see letsrecycle.com story).
In advertising the contract, the NLWA broke down the contract into seven separate lots of 5,000 to 10,000 tonnes of material a year, with Bywaters being awarded three lots and Greenstar UK awarded four.
Material collected for sorting under the deals is expected to be sent to Bywaters' £7 million facility in East London and Greenstar UK's 300,000 tonnes-a-year capacity plant at Aldridge, on the outskirts of Birmingham.
The NLWA said the two companies were chosen due to their ability to handle a wide range of materials, allowing for the collection of items such as tetrapaks, mixed plastics, plastic shopping bags and shredded paper at the kerbside for the first time. It also claimed the contracts could save it £760,000 each year while new facilities are developed.
Councillor Clyde Loakes, chair of the NLWA, said: "In the current climate getting the best value solution for managing waste has to be a priority and we are delighted that through these contracts we have been able to achieve this."
"We look forward to working with Greenstar and Bywaters over coming years as we work towards achieving our targets for a more sustainable north London," he added.