AVDC pulls out of county-wide waste procurement
Archived press release
Date Published: 20/09/10
AVDC is the only council in Bucks that has an in-house collection service for refuse and recycling
Aylesbury Vale District Council's cabinet members voted to withdraw from a proposed joint procurement with other district councils in Buckinghamshire, last Tuesday evening (14 September).
AVDC, along with Chiltern, Wycombe and South Bucks district councils, has been investigating joining together to buy in a waste collection and street cleansing services; the aim being to reduce the cost of these services.
Councillor Sir Beville Stanier, Cabinet Member for Environment, said, “AVDC is the only council in Buckinghamshire that has an in-house collection service for refuse and recycling collections. This puts us in a unique position and quite a different one from the other councils, who already contract out their services.
“During the past months, our staff have been looking very closely at the way in which we currently work and we believe we can achieve a similar level of savings by reorganising our current service, but without having to pay the substantial procurement costs that contracting out would entail. We are also keen to improve the level of recycling in the Vale to reduce the amount of money we have to pay for waste disposal.
“By reorganising our collection rounds and improving recycling rates, we believe we can reduce our costs substantially and maintain in-house control of this important household service,” explained Sir Beville.
Council officers will now start work on redesigning the refuse and recycling service. Street cleansing in Aylesbury Vale is already contracted out, but will not be part of the joint procurement process. Residents will be kept informed of any changes to the refuse and recycling service as soon as details are known.
Notes to editors:
Chiltern and Wycombe district councils are to continue with the joint procurement. South Bucks District Council also intends to withdraw from the procurement process.