by EWAN LAMB
The award of a £5.6 million local authority contract to a Northern Ireland waste treatment company will see 10,000 tonnes of recyclable rubbish from the Scottish Borders being hauled the 230 miles to Newry in Ulster each year to be sorted.
Re-Gen Waste Ltd was the only bidder for the Scottish Borders Council 'blue bin' recyclable refuse contract which was up for grabs after being under the control of J & B Recycling, of Hartlepool, Tees-side since 2005. At the last renewal in 2017 that contract was worth £1.35 million over three years.
The new arrangement is scheduled to last for three years with the option of four one-year extensions, so potentially a seven year contract
A spokesman for SBC told Not Just Sheep & Rugby: "This contract is on a different pricing mechanism to the previous one. This one is more strongly linked to market prices for materials. The final cost will vary depending on market rates – right now, they are in our favour. The cost on the contract notice is based on an average of recent cost incurred under our previous contract."After confirming that the material would be transported by road to Newry, the spokesman explained "We are working with the contractor to maximise the tonnage for each journey to minimise haulage impacts. The contractor also undertakes backload trips so the vehicles are not running empty on either leg of their journey from Northern Ireland.
"It is important to note too that it is a global market for the end products once sorted, so whether going to Hartlepool (as before) or Northern Ireland the end product from the contractor is then being transported all over the world."
"It is important to note too that it is a global market for the end products once sorted, so whether going to Hartlepool (as before) or Northern Ireland the end product from the contractor is then being transported all over the world."
Ross Sharp-Dent, Waste and Passenger Transport Manager for Scottish Borders Council, said: “Following the expiry of our previous contract for the transport and processing of dry mixed recycling, a procurement exercise was undertaken by the Council with the available contract put out to tender.
“The successful company, Re-gen, a Northern Ireland based recycling and waste management specialist is a market leader in the processing of and recovery of recyclable materials and currently works for a number of other Scottish local authorities.
“The contract will see Re-gen provide the same service as our previous contractor and process all of the same materials for recycling. As a result there will be no change experienced by the public in terms of what can be put in their bins.
“In 2019 SBC achieved a total recycling rate of 49%, representing an increase of over 10% from the previous year and the largest increase of any local authority in Scotland.
“This is significantly higher than the national recycling average (44.9%) and positions SBC as the highest performing rural local authority in Scotland.
“The increase in recycling performance also coincides with a significant reduction in the amount of waste reaching landfill and a reduction in carbon emissions of 11,000 tonnes CO2e between 2018 and 2019.
“Recycling is one of the easiest everyday actions we can take to reduce our carbon footprint and I would encourage members of the public to play their part.
“A new online platform has been created to help people across the Scottish Borders recycle more by telling them what can and can’t be recycled in their area -https://wasteless.zerowastescotland.org.uk/recycling-sorter.”
“The successful company, Re-gen, a Northern Ireland based recycling and waste management specialist is a market leader in the processing of and recovery of recyclable materials and currently works for a number of other Scottish local authorities.
“The contract will see Re-gen provide the same service as our previous contractor and process all of the same materials for recycling. As a result there will be no change experienced by the public in terms of what can be put in their bins.
“In 2019 SBC achieved a total recycling rate of 49%, representing an increase of over 10% from the previous year and the largest increase of any local authority in Scotland.
“This is significantly higher than the national recycling average (44.9%) and positions SBC as the highest performing rural local authority in Scotland.
“The increase in recycling performance also coincides with a significant reduction in the amount of waste reaching landfill and a reduction in carbon emissions of 11,000 tonnes CO2e between 2018 and 2019.
“Recycling is one of the easiest everyday actions we can take to reduce our carbon footprint and I would encourage members of the public to play their part.
“A new online platform has been created to help people across the Scottish Borders recycle more by telling them what can and can’t be recycled in their area -https://wasteless.zerowastescotland.org.uk/recycling-sorter.”
Background provided to us by the local authority explained: "Scottish Borders Council collects dry mixed recyclate at the kerbside from all households in the Scottish Borders as well as community recycling centres and traders. Examples of dry mixed recyclate include paper, cardboard, cans and plastic.
This material is all bulked up at the Council’s Waste Transfer Stations before being transported to a materials recovery facility where it is sorted into its separate parts. Once separated the materials are transferred onto the recycling marketplace for their reprocessing."
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