Suez agrees £152m Mid Kent waste and recycling contract
Waste management company Suez has been awarded a £152 million, eight-year contract to provide waste and recycling services for three Kent councils.
The contract, which was awarded after a detailed tender process, marks the first major contract announced since Suez Recycling and Recovery was acquired by French-owned Suez for £2 billion in December from Veolia.
Under the terms of the contract, Suez will take over waste collection and recycling services for nearly 200,000 households across Ashford, Maidstone, and Swale councils from Biffa in March 2024. The contract also includes street cleansing services in Ashford and Swale, while Maidstone will continue to handle it in-house.
Suez plans to continue fortnightly collections of waste and recycling, with a single wheeled bin for dry recycling and weekly food waste collections.
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The company also plans to introduce a new fleet of lower emission vehicles with electric bin lifts, funded by each council, and improved technology for vehicle tracking, routing, and managing customer service requests. The contract further includes plans for improving the level of cleansing in rural and residential areas and faster response times for the removal of fly-tipping.
The existing Biffa staff will transfer to Suez at the start of the contract.
Suez chief executive John Scanlon said: "With our experience and expertise in service innovation, Suez is well positioned to partner with the councils to navigate the upcoming period of transition, as the government implements its waste reforms to create a more circular, resource efficient UK economy.
"We look forward to rolling out modern technology and new low emission vehicles, together with improved routes and fly-tip response times, to help drive up recycling rates, drive down the carbon footprint of the services and provide an enhanced customer service to residents of Mid Kent.”
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