VERDANT WINS 7 YEAR CLEANSING, WASTE AND RECYCLING COLLECTION CONTRACT FOR SWALE BOROUGH COUNCIL

Sevenoaks, Kent, 1 December 2005

Independent municipal services contractor Verdant Group plc today announced that it has won its first major local authority contract in its home county of Kent. Verdant has been selected to provide street cleansing, waste collection and recycling services for residents of Swale Borough Council under a contract worth approximately £21 million over the period.

This latest contract success for Verdant comes just a few weeks after securing a 12 year refuse collection, recycling and cleansing contract for South Beds District Council. In the last few months, Verdant has also won a seven year refuse collection, recycling and cleansing contract for Rother District Council, and implementing a green waste recycling service for Surrey Heath District Council.

The new contract begins in December this year, and will focus on implementing an alternate week kerbside collection of residual domestic waste and recyclables from around 55,000 local households accommodating a population of nearly 129,000 residents across Swale’s area of 37,000 hectares. Roll-out of the scheme takes place during 2007, and all residents should be covered by the new service by February 2008. An optional green waste recycling collection service is also being considered. Swale currently recycles14.55% of its domestic waste, and plans to increase this to 30% by 2006/07.

Verdant’s service will involve a twin wheelie bin service, one for all recyclables, such as paper, cardboard, steel and aluminium cans, plastic bottles and glass containers, which will be collected one week, and the other for residual waste which will be collected the following week. Residual waste will be taken to the new energy-from-waste facility at Allington.

Alan Turner, cleansing services manager at Swale Borough Council, said: “Verdant impressed us with the quality of its tender submission, as well as references from other local authority clients. The proposed new scheme is simple, convenient and proven, and we’re confident that Verdant will help Swale divert more materials for recycling and reduce overall waste. Swale is a popular tourist destination and so effective waste and recycling management will be important for our overall image.”

Roger Edwards, development director for Verdant, added: “As a company headquartered in Kent, we’re very pleased to have secured our first major contract in the county. We know we can help Swale lift its recycling rate, which has obvious local and national environmental benefits. Verdant is very experienced in designing, implementing and running alternate week collections, and understands how to involve and help residents in the changeover."