SOMERSET Waste Partnership has announced which company will help produce a comprehensive new recycling service across the county from next year. 

All staff with the current service provider, Kier, will transfer to SUEZ recycling and recovery UK when the new contract to deliver the Recycle More service begins in March 2020.

It is one of the largest collection contracts in the UK, providing collection and waste logistic services to more than 250,000 households across the whole of Somerset. 

Worth £210 million over its initial ten-year duration, with an option to extend for a further ten years, the contract will employ more than 460 people locally.

Recycle More will mean operating new vehicles from refurbished depots and collecting a much wider range of recycling every week, including more plastic packaging.

Almost all the rubbish currently landfilled in Somerset will be taken to a brand new centre in Avonmouth, where it will be used to generate electricity.

In addition to the dozen or so materials already collected weekly,, including food waste, Recycle More will pick up items such as plastic pots, tubs and trays, Tetra Paks and other food and drink cartons, small electrical items and household batteries.

By collecting the majority of recyclable household material each week, Recycle More will reduce the volume of left-over general rubbish in residents’ bins, which will subsequently be collected every three weeks.

The new service will be introduced in a phased way over two years, starting in June 2020.