The third contract is of worth £1 million-a-year being let for the management of three household waste recycling centres within the authority. The first contract includes the beginning of food waste collections.
The council expects to receive around five to ten tenders for the contract when it is completely advertised in April 2009. The companies can express initial interest in the contracts until March 13 2009.
The council plans to award the contract in October 2009 and commence the new arrangements from March 2010.
The contracts are set to replace the North Somerset’s current contract with Veolia Environmental Services (Veolia). Veolia has been in the contract since it took over collections and waste management from Biffa Waste Services in 2003.
Councillor Carl Francis-Pester, executive member for the environment, said: Every tonne of waste that goes to landfill costs the local tax-payer and it is likely that these costs will increase. At the moment about 39% of household waste in North Somerset is recycled, but we need to increase these rates to avoid facing additional penalties.
We are asking potential contractors to consider costings for collection of food waste to establish whether this would be a viable option in North Somerset to help us reduce the amount of waste that goes to landfill, he added.
At the end of the 2008, the council was condemned by the Audit Commission in a report that claimed the council had ineffective monitoring and slow responses to investigate a claim that it could have paid almost more than GBP300,000, it should have to dispose of domestic household waste.
Biffa Waste Services deprived the implication that there was a substitution of trade and household waste that had caused unusual tonnages arising for the years 2002/03 and 2003/04.
