Council uses emergency powers after Greencycle administration

Jul 31 2009 by Tony Henderson, The Journal

EMERGENCY powers had to be used by a council to rescue kerbside recycling services.

The action was taken by Durham County Council after the company which ran the service, Greencycle, went into administration.

Greencycle had provided the kerbside service in Chester-le-Street, Durham City, Easington and Sedgefield.

But county council head of policy and planning Jeff Riddell said the authority had to act quickly after having just 48 hours’ notice of administration.

The council took over the service and hired 80 staff, including a large number of former Greencycle workers.

It also hired 16 collection vehicles.

The additional cost of bringing the recycling service in-house is £1.3m, but Mr Riddell said this was around half the sum which Greencycle had requested to continue the work. The council’s cabinet will be asked today to approve the actions taken. The Greencycle scheme had increased recycling performance across the four districts by 55%. But the onset of recession saw a rapid fall in the sale price of recycled materials from last October.

This caused difficulties for many waste and recycling companies and resulted in stockpiling. Greencycle asked the councils to pay for the warehousing costs and said it could not continue to deliver the service without a significant price increase.

Now the council is to examine the different kerbside schemes in operation in the county, which include bags, boxes and bins, with a view to providing a harmonised service in future.

The review will also examine the number and suitability of household waste recycling centres and “bring” recycling sites across the county. To allow the council to meet national recycling targets, it may be necessary to collect food waste as part of kerbside recycling.