Daventry District Council close to new agreement with firm over bin collection

At a full council meeting on February 23, councillors backed the proposal to enter into a joint venture with Norse Commercial Services Ltd to deliver environmental services when the current contract with Amey/Enterprise ends on June 3 2018.

It follows the decision last year to replace the present system of waste and recycling collections with a ‘1-2-3’ scheme once the current contract ends.

The new service design will involve a weekly food waste collection, a two-weekly recycling collection using a full-size wheelie bin and a three-weekly general waste collection. A separate fortnightly garden waste collection service will be made available at an additional cost for those who want it.

Should agreement be reached with Norse Commercial Services Ltd, the new joint venture arrangement would deliver that 1-2-3 service together with street cleaning and grass-cutting.

Councillor Jo Gilford, environment portfolio holder at Daventry District Council, said: “Since agreeing plans for the new 1-2-3 waste and recycling collections, officers have done a lot of work and research to explore how we can deliver our environmental services from June 2018.

“Having considered all the options, they have concluded the proposed joint venture with Norse is the best fit for our district’s future needs to provide an affordable, quality service. Norse has a proven track record of working with councils and the joint venture arrangement would give us a greater degree of control over the service. It would also let us offer residents the simplest recycling service, with all materials going into one bin.

The deal with Norse would also allow the council to offer a fully co-mingled recycling service, with all dry recycling going into one wheelie bin. Parish councils wishing to take on litter picking and the maintenance of closed churchyards would be able to do so under the arrangement.

“Some parish councils have also expressed interest in taking on litter-picking and churchyard maintenance and we can see how local communities might reap benefits from such services being delivered at a grassroots level,” said Councillor Jo Gilford.

“Parishes have an important role to play in protecting and enhancing our district’s environment and we are keen to engage with them.”

Councillors also agreed to allocate £2.5m to enhance the depot and transfer station, to bring it up to modern standards and improve its efficiency.

A further £350,000 was allocated for new garden waste wheelie bins that will be required under the 1-2-3 system. The existing brown garden bins would become recycling bins under the new system.

Norse Commercial Services Ltd is owned by Norfolk County Council and provides services with 12 other local authorities, including Wellingborough.