Waste Compositional Analysis of Household Waste

Tender description

1. Introduction Dumfries and Galloway Council (DGC or the Council) is one of 32 council areas in Scotland. It is located in south west Scotland and is approximately 6,600 square kilometres in size with a population of around 150,000. It borders Ayrshire and Lanarkshire to the north, Scottish Borders to the east and Cumbria to the south. It also has a significant coastline to the south and west. DGC is split into four operational areas, from west to east these are: Wigtownshire – incorporating Stranraer, Wigtown and Newton Stewart; Stewartry – incorporating Castle Douglas and Dalbeattie; Nithsdale – incorporating Dumfries, Thornhill and Sanquhar; and Annandale & Eskdale (A&E) – incorporating Annan, Gretna, Lockerbie, Langholm and Moffat. 2. Overview DGC operates and delivers in house waste collection services across the whole of the Dumfries and Galloway local authority area. Services include kerbside collections of residual waste, paper and cardboard, plastic and metal packaging, food waste, and household batteries, alongside an additional paid garden waste service. The Council periodically undertakes Waste Composition Analysis to better understand the types and quantities of material presented within these household waste streams; this is to inform service planning, performance monitoring, and compliance with national waste and recycling policy. Lot 1: 3. Waste Composition Analysis With funding support from Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS), a Waste Composition Analysis (WCA) was conducted on DGC’s main waste streams across one month in summer 2021 and winter 2022, respectively; this covered residual waste, plastic and can, and paper and cardboard recyclates. As reliance on historic composition data increases over time, there is a growing risk that decisions are based on outdated assumptions. This Waste Composition Analysis therefore aims to provide essential evidence to support future decision‑making around DGC’s waste services and help identify opportunities to improve recycling performance and move waste further up the ‘Waste Hierarchy’. The previous WCA focused on parts of the regions located in: Kirkconnel (DG4) Newbridge / Holywood and surrounding area (DG2) Auldgirth / Dalswinton and surrounding area (DG2) Georgetown area of Dumfries (DG1) Lincluden area of Dumfries (DG1). It is anticipated that the following parts of the region will be sampled again, as this can provide a direct comparison against the prior WCA to inform service changes/performance. 4. Data Collection Any future Waste Composition Analysis at a high level, is to involve activities typically associated with exercises of this nature, which may include (but are not limited to): Development of a Waste Composition Analysis methodology, potentially aligned with Zero Waste Scotland guidance. Analysis undertaken across two separate phases (est. one month in summer and one month in winter). Production of datasets and reporting outputs of sorted waste within Dumfries and Galloway region to support interpretation of findings, including information on material composition, capture rates, and contamination within kerbside collections. Please note that the scope, structure, methodology, and outputs of any future procurement have not been finalised and remain subject to further development. 5. Reporting DGC expects a production of a data set of findings in format to be agreed between Council and contractor. This data set will be used to produce a final report which will be used to analyse the waste collected and compare the two waste composition analysis periods to ensure seasonality is accounted for. 6. Expression of Interest DGC is issuing this Prior Information Notice to engage with the market and seek expressions of interest from potential service providers in advance of developing a detailed specification and publishing a future Contract Notice. Dumfries and Galloway Council is open to feedback and suggestions from interested parties who are considering bidding when a future Contract Notice, resulting from this PIN, is published. Any feedback and suggestions will be considered when finalising the specification of the contract to be procured through said Contract Notice. The Contract Notice will be published on Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) and/or Public Contract Scotland Tenders (PCS-T).. There is a questionnaire uploaded that we would like returned no later than Friday 15th May 12 noon to Procurement.CIRW@dumgal.gov.uk