Waste & Cleansing Services

The purpose of this Preliminary Market Engagement Notice is to initiate a market engagement exercise for the procurement of a contractor to assist Westminster City Council (WCC) with delivery of waste collection and street cleansing services. We are aiming to assess the interest and capability of the market in providing and delivering the scope of potential services and their views on how an opportunity of this kind might be packaged and delivered. A current summary of the service and contract scope includes: • 180,000 tonnes of waste and recycling per year (50% commercial, 40% residents, 10% litter) • 1 million waste and recycling collections per week • Commercial waste services to 8,000 customers • 75% waste disposed of via energy-from-waste with the remaining 25% recycled • 700 staff including 450 street cleaners and a 24/7/365 service • More than 12 major annual special events including Notting Hill Carnival, London Pride and New Years Eve • 115 big black bin sites, 160 micro recycling centres • 1,250km of streets and pavements swept per day • 16,000km of streets flushed per year • 1,200 litter bins emptied up to 25 times per day during summer • A dedicated behaviour change team • Community Mobile Recycling Centre events for difficult-to-recycle items • Winter gritting and leafing operations • Garden waste collections citywide from March 2026 and flexible plastics collected in dry mixed recycling stream from March 2027 onwards in line with Simpler Recycling requirements. The current annual value of the contracts is circa £55m - £65m per annum. WCC has an electric waste vehicle depot (at Landmann Way SE14) which holds 50% of the fleet and has acquired a site for a second vehicle depot nearby for the remaining fleet with work in progress to make this site available to the successful supplier for the services. WCC’s full fleet of electric waste vehicles and the majority of the street cleansing vehicles required to undertake the services will be owned by WCC with the contractor required to operate, maintain and repair the fleet and charging infrastructure. A third site to house a 1500 tonne salt barn, a gritting fleet and other equipment storage and maintenance has been identified, and WCC is working through the process to secure the site. WCC is inviting suitable, experienced, and qualified suppliers to discuss the future provision of services in the City of Westminster, London, UK related to: • the collection of waste and recycling, • street cleansing, and • winter maintenance. WCC is exploring options to deliver its Waste Services that will maintain existing standards and the timely delivery of world-class services, provide social value and value for money, and deliver environmental benefits while embracing flexibility and technological innovation. WCC currently has a Waste Collection and Street Cleansing contract, which expires 15 September 2027, and is looking to explore options for the future provision of this service. The main objectives of the preliminary market engagement will be to initiate a discussion with the market to generate ideas on how to maintain the current high standards of service while advancing the Council’s long-term strategic priorities. WCC welcomes suggestions as part of this engagement on how a package that meets these needs could best be made attractive to the market. Our contractor for the new contract period will be a critical partner in driving the outcomes of the service strategy. There are five strategic service imperatives that frame this thinking: • Service imperative – Delivering clean, healthy streets is of paramount importance for the execution of this contract and is a core function of the services delivered by WCC. We must maintain high confidence and satisfaction and deliver efficient services that are responsive to our customers’ changing needs. • Financial imperative – Value for money and driving efficiency is a key priority. In addition to the Waste and Cleansing Contract, the delivery partner’s performance will impact directly financial outcomes on other related contracts, namely the Council’s Waste Disposal Contracts. In response to the upcoming national Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) policy and the packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (pEPR) policy, it will be critical that the service drives behaviour change at scale to increase diverted materials to recycling and food waste streams. • Environmental imperative – Emissions resulting from consumption and waste disposal are a significant contributor to climate change. Whilst WCC has made great strides in reducing the negative environmental impacts associated with waste collection, in line with the waste hierarchy, the city’s waste generation must decrease and recycling rates must increase, to align with Westminster’s 2040 and the Greater London Authority’s (GLA) 2030 net zero targets. • Equity imperative – It is essential that the future service meets the needs of Westminster’s communities and that services are offered equitably throughout the city. This procurement aims to maximise social value and identify other potential community benefits. We want a partner to work with us on promoting local partnerships to foster a community-based re-use network, including drop-off events, and other waste prevention initiatives that simultaneously allow community engagement, ownership and social benefit. • Legal imperative – The council is seeking to align its approach with national and regional policy drives towards improved recycling. Several national policies will be implemented in the coming years to support this, including the ETS, pEPR, the Deposit Return Scheme, and Simpler Recycling requirements. The service must be ready to successfully meet these operational and compliance challenges and be able to flex over the duration of the contract as the policy landscape continues to evolve. Flexibility will be key; the successful contractor will need to be innovative, adaptable and prepared to adjust over time as progress is made toward our strategic outcomes and our service needs change. Joint ventures or partnership bids would be welcomed. The following services are out of scope for this procurement: Waste treatment and disposal, recycling, and food waste processing. WCC wishes to consult with organisations with relevant experience of delivering similar services. The purpose of this consultation is to seek the views of market participants on potential service delivery models available to WCC that best align with the above objectives. This will assist WCC in planning the future procurement procedures. WCC intends to commence the procurement procedure in Q4 2025. Note: The total value for the procurement will be confirmed at a later date.