The Partnership is hosting a market awareness event to help understand the best way to structure a range of waste and recycling contracts and delivery models.
The event will include discussion around materials recovery and processing, green waste treatment, food waste treatment, landfill of untreatable residues and the management of household waste recycling centres.
The event aims to get feedback from the waste industry on the issues of risk and reward between councils and contractors. This will include seeking views on the grouping and length of contracts.
Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland councils formed the South Tyne & Wear Waste Management Partnership in 2007 and have a Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy.
The Partnership signed a 25-year contract with a SITA UK consortium last year to deliver residual waste treatment and is now looking to develop its other waste and recycling services.
The three partner councils’ serve 285,000 households. The Partnership is striving to achieve a 50% recycling rate by 2020 and is currently achieving around 34%.
The Partnership may collaborate with Newcastle and North Tyneside councils on some services depending on the outcome of the market awareness event.
Group director, Local Environmental Services, Gateshead Council, John Robinson, said: “We are looking for solutions that will help us deliver year-on-year efficiency savings and benefits well into the future. It makes sense to engage with the market at an early stage to best understand how to structure procurements in order to get the most innovative and value-for-money solutions coming to the table.”
The market awareness event is on January 30 and is by invitation only. Companies interested in attending should contact Julie Gullon in Procurement at Gateshead Council - juliegullon@gateshead.gov.uk|
The Partnership does not guarantee that all or any of the waste streams discussed at the market awareness event will be procured.