The Helensburgh and Lomond community will benefit from a new residual waste contract procured jointly by Argyll and Bute and West Dunbartonshire councils.
A key part of the procurement process was a need to provide additional community benefits.
The new contract with Barr Environmental Ltd will run from June 2021 until December 2025, and will save the council around £98,000 this year and approximately £397,000 over the term of the contract.
The additional community benefits include:
- Employment and apprentice opportunities for local people
- Working with education to provide skills for work support
- Helping third sector organisations
Supporting communities through donations and staff volunteering
The Environment, Development and Infrastructure committee heard the news on Thursday as part of an update on the Waste Strategy Project.
The committee also heard details about the new Scottish Government £70 million Recycling Improvement Fund, starting in 2021. This will help speed up progress towards the 2025 national waste and recycling targets.
The fund will be delivered over five years and the council’s Waste Strategy Board has formally expressed an interest for three projects to go forward for consideration within the first two years of the fund:
- A joint bid with West Dunbartonshire Council to develop a shared Waste Transfer facilities
- Improvements to island civic amenity sites to support and encourage recycling
- Improvements to Blackhill civic amenity site, Helensburgh, to develop new facilities for recycling
Councillor Robin Currie, leader of the council, said: “I’m delighted that our work with West Dunbartonshire Council has brought savings and considerable benefits to the local community. I look forward to future collaborations that will benefit our areas and help us towards our waste and recycling goals.
“Changes in waste policies including the landfill band continue to present challenges to Argyll and Bute due partly to our unique geography. We continue to work closely with the Scottish Government to support our transition to a new waste model.”