Veolia awarded £338-million Camden Council contract extension

Veolia has been awarded a new contract to deliver recycling, waste collection and street cleansing services to Camden Council worth an estimated £338 million.

Veolia was awarded a seven-year contract by Camden Council in 2003 to manage the council’s waste collection, recycling, street cleansing and winter services. This was extended for another seven years in 2009 but is due to expire on 31 March 2017.

The new eight-year contract, which starts in April 2017 with the possibility of a further eight-year extension, will see the addition of several services, which are currently managed in-house or outsourced to other service providers at a cost of £1 million per year, and mean increased responsibilities for the waste management company.

These include managing business and recycling waste; removing graffiti, drug paraphernalia and flyposting; customer service; communications and container management.

Although current services will continue under the new contract, they will be delivered slightly differently. All households will retain their weekly dry recycling and food waste collections and more than half will still also receive a weekly residual waste collection.

Remaining households will move to a fortnightly residual waste collection service ‘where waste can be securely stored’. According to the council ‘enough storage capacity will be available to cater for the material currently put out, but in a different profile, i.e. more recycling, less waste’.

Investing in communities to ensure sustainable neighbourhoods

The decision to grant the contract to Veolia was approved last week by the Environmental Scrutiny Committee after the council’s Cabinet chose the company as its preferred bidder in July.

In a report provided to the cabinet, ‘background, strategic objectives, outcomes and a proposed service delivery model’ were outlined in advance of the decision on the environmental services contract, which will have ‘outcome-based specification’.

This specification not only allows Veolia to have flexibility in the manner in which it meets service standards but also encourages innovation.

The main aims of the contract will be ‘maintaining high service standards and delivering solutions to increase efficiency, provide effective management of resources and continually improve services’.

Additionally, the contract will be London Living Wage compliant and will help increase local employment through the creation of new training apprenticeships and opportunities for volunteering and will help the council meet a number of ‘Camden Plan objectives’, which include reducing inequality, delivering value for money and investing in communities.

Providing “a modern-day service for the people of Camden”

Commenting on the contract, Estelle Brachlianoff, Senior Executive Vice President, Veolia UK and Ireland said: “Camden Council is a long standing and highly valued client. We are delighted to be continuing our operations in the borough and we look forward to working in partnership with the council, local residents and businesses to deliver vital services.” 


Councillor Meric Apak, Camden Council’s Cabinet member for Sustainability and Environment, added: “I am excited at the opportunity to look at how we can best provide a modern-day service for the people of Camden. The new Environment Services contract that we have agreed will maximise up to date technology so that the service becomes both more efficient and responsive, in order to meet the needs of the council, and its residents and businesses.”

The full report into the Camden waste contract can be read on the Camden Council website.