Hertfordshire County Council’s network of household waste and recycling centres look set to return ‘in-house’ – following a request by contractors Amey to walk away.
The 17 recycling centre sites – which attract more than 1.8 million visits a year – have been run by waste firm Amey since 2014.
But reductions in the value of recyclable materials and increasing haulage costs are said to have made the contract, which is due to run until March 2023, less attractive.
Last year the company – which is said to be losing around £1.2 million a year on the contract – asked to exit from it.
Read more: Ten recycling centres to reopen in Hertfordshire
Since then officers at the county council have been considering a number of options – which could have included insisting that Amey continue.
On Wednesday (May 6) a meeting of the county council’s special cabinet panel backed plans to bring the service back ‘in-house’, under the direct control of the county council.
And if the move is backed by a meeting of the county council’s cabinet, the management of the recycling centres could be passed to the county council on October 1.
Executive member for community safety and waste management Cllr Terry Hone said the option was the “best consideration” for the county council.
And he said the circumstances showed what good negotiations the council had achieved in securing the initial contract.
“It shows what good negotiations that officers did with Amey,” he said.
“Amey are not a little two-bit company- they are big boys and they have negotiated many contracts on these sorts of things.
Read more: Councillor asks why local recycling centre will stay closed
“And the fact that we got a great deal and that we put the risk very much in their court rather than ours I think is commendable. Well done officers.”
Cllr Hone said the plans for the future delivery of the service at the tips took into account a range of factors.
“The deal we are being presented with here in terms of not only the divorce but also in terms of the path forward is ‘best consideration’,” he said.
“Best consideration takes into account all sorts of things from the service we give to the public, to the cost, to the operatives, to the people involved in negotiating, etc.
“It is best consideration and we think it’s the right thing to do and the right direction to travel.”
At the meet
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