The Council’s Cabinet yesterday (9 January) agreed to offer a new waste collection and street cleansing contract to waste management firm Biffa.
The contract for “waste and recycling collection, street and public open space cleansing” will start on 3 October 2020, and run for eight years with an option to extend for a further two.
Visible changes next year will include a new “state-of-the-art” collection fleet, wheeled-bins and food waste collection, the council says.
A weekly separate collection of food waste, with fortnightly recycling and residual waste collections, will also be introduced.
Following very positive collaborative dialogue and a ‘can do’ approach by everyone – including the bidding companies – we now have a way of hitting impressive recycling targets
Cornwall Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment and Public Protection, Rob Nolan, said: “This contract sees Cornwall poised to transform its recycling, something residents told us in our 2017 survey was a priority.
“We are very pleased to be continuing to work with Biffa. Following very positive collaborative dialogue and a ‘can do’ approach by everyone – including the bidding companies – we now have a way of hitting impressive recycling targets.”
“If, like most of the top-performing parts of the UK, we begin putting our food waste out for collection every week from Summer 2021, we can in one leap transform our recycling rates from the currently disappointing 38% to over 50%.”
Roger Edwards, Managing Director of Biffa Municipal Ltd, said: “We are delighted to have been nominated as the preferred bidder for the new Cornwall contract.
“We are looking forward to introducing new services to significantly improve recycling rates. The local Biffa team pride themselves on the excellent service provided to date and we look forward to continuing our productive working relationship with Cornwall Council.”