Waste firm’s managers
MANAGERS in charge of Bridgend’s controversial £82m seven-year Kier waste contract appeared before councillors on Monday to answer questions on the first year’s performance.
When the contract began in June 2017 the new service was described as causing “chaos” with large numbers of missed rubbish and recycling collections which led to waste, including bags of nappies, sitting on kerbsides for weeks.
The new changes left householders limited to two rubbish bags per fortnight and using different-coloured sacks for cardboard, paper, and plastics as well as caddies for glass and food waste and purple bags for nappies.
But the new approach to waste collection has resulted in the county borough’s annual recycling rate soaring from 58% in 2016-17 to 68.5% for 201718.
It has gone from being the second worst local authority in Wales for recycling to being the second best in under a year. Speaking at the overview and scrutiny committee meeting on Monday September 17, cabinet member for communities Richard Young said there had been “a degree of extreme criticism” at the start of the contract but there was “no doubt” the service had got better.
He said: “The start was unfortunate, we worked through it and it has taken the cooperation of Kier, officers and councillors.”
Communities director Mark Shephard said Kier had been fined a “significant” amount by the council for failing to meet contractual expectations such as missed collections.
He said: “We’ve been advised by our legal team that we can’t discuss the amount as it is commercially sensitive.
“The financial penalties were mainly applied very early on in the contract, they’ve managed to reduce the problem.”
According to a report which went before councillors the fines are based on a points-based system, for example a missed collection is two points and a late container or sack delivery is five points with points multiplying for each additional day.
In year one of the contract almost 425,000 points were calculated.
The number currently is around 9,100 points a month which is decreasing.
The council’s head of neighbourhood services Zak Shell said the problems were exacerbated in the first year of the new service due to the series of successive interim management arrangements at Kier.
He said: “Since employing the local manager from within the borough it has very much helped speeding up the process of settling the contract.
“Putting Scott Saunders in place and the team which he now has behind him has improved things markedly.”
Kier regional manager Maz Akhtar said over 50% of the management team in the Bridgend depot had changed in recent months.
He said: “The new team has been excellent, they’ve delivered significant improvements and continue to do so on an almost daily basis.”
Council leader Huw David said he had been one of the first to criticise Kier but there had since been “huge improvements”.
He thanked residents in the county for “embracing” the service saying its success was down to them.
He added: “The year we were introducing the new service we just missed our recycling target and we could have received a fine from Welsh Government
“I had to explain to the Minster for the Environment we were introducing the service and that was the only reason we did not get fined.
“We also know if we are to protect our environment and save the planet we have all got to do do things differently and recycling is a very important part of that.”