ON behalf of the company that currently provides Monmouthshire County Council's kerbside recycling service, I would like to briefly respond to recent coverage on the council's planned changes.
I won't go into the issues in detail, but for the record I want to correct one misleading claim – that Monmouthshire Community Recycling's service was the more expensive option of the two being considered.
The figure that the council officer's report gives for our service is £163-£175 per tonne, while the 'co-mingled' alternative (the in-house option) is given as £148 per tonne. I do not know how the figures are arrived at, I can't comment on how much anyone else might charge, but I think it is only fair to MCR, who are named in this report, to clarify our actual price.
The facts are that we were invited to tender to run a service across the county including plastics, and that our price to the council was just under £100 per tonne. That was a fixed price over three years, supported by our parent company, who run many of these contracts across the UK and are in a position to make informed choices and financial guarantees. That price, or very close, would be available on the same level of service if it was tendered again in the near future.
The council's decision no doubt took many things into account but that did not include the fixed price we quoted. – David Roman, Monmouthshire Community Recycling.