Waste contractor Urbaser has begun a new waste collection and street cleansing contract for North and East Hertfordshire.
The joint seven-year contract between North Hertfordshire District Council (NHDC) and East Herts Council (EHC) provides a service for 280,000 residents and comes with the option for a further seven years' extension.
Urbaser-branded vehicles and staff wearing Urbaser branded uniforms are being phased in across the area, performing refuse and recycling bin collections including garden waste, food waste, clinical and bulky waste and street cleansing duties.
As part of the contract Urbaser is providing a fleet of new vehicles ranging from 7.5t to 26t refuse trucks and specialist food waste vehicles to sweepers, caged tippers, box vans and pavement sweepers. The new vehicles are being fitted with latest in-cab technology to provide a more streamlined service delivery, improve route efficiency and enable crews to respond more quickly to any issues reported by residents.
Cllr Michael Weeks, NHDC's executive member for Waste and Recycling said: 'North Herts residents can expect to see improvements to their service, including the introduction of weekly food waste collections and kerbside battery collections. Also, being introduced is an opt-in garden waste service for North Herts residents who choose to sign-up'
Urbaser is the third largest environmental services provider in Europe, providing waste treatment, waste and recycling collection and street cleansing. The company already manages contracts for several local authorities in the UK including Gosport Borough Council, Bournemouth Borough Council and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.
Javier Peiro, managing director at Urbaser, said: 'We are delighted to be working with North Herts and East Herts District Councils and we are committed to providing value for money and excellent service levels.
'We are installing a new state-of-the art fleet to facilitate service improvements and we plan to improve route efficiency in the future. Although this may involve changing some people's collection days later in the year, the frequency of collections will remain the same and residents will be given plenty of notice about any planned changes'
Graham McAndrew, East Herts Council's executive member for environment and the public space, said: 'We welcome the start of our new contract which will provide quality services and good value.
'Urbaser vehicles use modern technology to give frontline staff the most up-to-date information, allowing them to provide a more responsive, improved service. The drivers are trained to monitor fuel use and speed and to minimise unnecessary accelerating and breaking, which is great for the environment'
