Bespoke, hands-on support delivered around your procurement and contract management needs
Waste contracts are high profile, operationally critical and tightly regulated. Whether you run kerbside collections, manage estates and communal bin stores, or need a compliant solution for clinical and confidential waste, every decision sits under the Procurement Act 2023, waste Duty of Care and environment legislation. Add carbon reporting, consistent collections policy, contamination targets and volatile haulage and gate fees, and it is clear why many public bodies and charities ask for specialist help.
We provide practical, outcome focused waste management procurement consultancy for local government, housing associations, NHS and care providers, education estates and national charities. You get extra capacity and category expertise to run a clean, defensible process, achieve value for money and mobilise a service that works on the ground.
What we do
We shape the requirement, design the procurement route, run the competition and stand up the contract. Early on we complete a costed options appraisal that compares frameworks, further competitions and a fresh competition. The appraisal sets out total cost, time, risk, market interest and how each route supports your objectives, including carbon and social value. We then structure soft market engagement so you learn about service models, collection technology, pay by weight and reporting standards without tilting the field. Specifications and pricing schedules are outcomes based and vendor neutral, with clear obligations on performance data, Duty of Care documentation, recycling quality, contamination interventions and the waste hierarchy. During evaluation we brief and support your panel, manage clarifications, site visits and method statements, and moderate to a consistent, auditable decision. Post award we negotiate terms, finalise SLAs and KPIs, and run a practical mobilisation plan that covers containerisation, rounds, TUPE information flows, bin store readiness, resident communications and service continuity. Through the term we can act as your contract management partner, driving performance, challenge and continuous improvement.
What we buy and improve
Public bodies and charities manage multiple waste streams, each with different risk, licensing and pricing mechanics. The table below highlights the areas we typically support and what good looks like.
| Waste stream | Typical scope | Risks we mitigate | What success looks like |
| General and dry mixed recycling | Communal and kerbside collections, bring sites, trade waste for council or charity sites | Contamination, haulage distance, volatile gate fees, weak data | Clear container strategy, lower contamination, predictable indexation, accurate tonnage and route data |
| Source separated recycling | Paper and card, glass, metals, plastics by stream | Market exposure and quality risk | Better commodity revenue share, stable offtake, high quality recyclate |
| Food waste | Caddies, communal food, processing via AD | Hygiene, odour, participation, contamination | Increased capture rates, fewer residual lifts, transparent AD offtake |
| Clinical and offensive | Bagged streams, sharps, pharmaceutical returns, yellow or tiger stripes | Licences, consignment notes, infection control | Clean audit trail, trained operatives, error free documentation |
| Confidential waste | On site consoles, scheduled and ad hoc collections, certificates of destruction | Data protection breaches | BS EN 15713 compliance, secure chain of custody, timed service windows |
| WEEE and small appliances | Bulk collections, take back, reuse partners | Illegal exports, poor re-use rates | Approved ATF partners, reuse first, compliant evidence |
| Hazardous waste | Oils, paints, chemicals, asbestos, batteries | Consignment and storage, contractor competence | Zero incidents, correct classification and safe transport |
| Bulky and fly-tipping | Appointments, void clearance, estate hotspots | Unsafe lifting, poor segregation, resident dissatisfaction | Segregated treatment, fast SLAs, visible community outcomes |
| Skips and RORO | HWRC, depots, projects and events | Contamination and overfill charges | Right container for the waste, clear tonnage pricing, minimal void transport |
| Print and hygiene services | Sanitary, nappy and washroom bins | Misclassification and hidden extras | Transparent pricing, correct EWC codes, compliant treatment |
Routes to market that fit your reality
There is no one right route. For well understood needs we often recommend a further competition under a national or regional framework, balancing speed with competitive tension. Where your scope or service model is evolving, the competitive flexible procedure allows structured engagement and iteration while preserving fairness and auditability. If you need the broadest market reach or a bespoke contract model, a fresh open competition can be the best choice. Our options appraisal sets out the commercial and compliance pros and cons in plain terms so you can make an informed decision and brief stakeholders with confidence.
Commercials that protect your budget
Waste contracts can drift if commercials are loose. We build pricing models and terms that keep you in control. That includes transparent unit rates per lift, tonne and container, clear round cards, distance bands for haulage, justified indexation and energy linkages where appropriate, and evidence based banding for contamination. Service credits focus on what matters to residents and building users, for example missed collections, rectification times, overflowing containers and blocked access. We lock in Duty of Care standards, licensing and insurances, and insist on data that is accurate, timely and independently verifiable.
Carbon, circularity and social value
Reducing waste is usually the cheapest and greenest outcome, so we write specifications that push the waste hierarchy and set reporting standards you can trust. Suppliers must provide monthly tonnages by EWC code, capture and treat data for carbon reporting, and evidence re-use initiatives. Where relevant we include food waste prevention, circular procurement of bins and spares, reuse partners for bulky items and repair schemes that support your community. Social value is contract specific. For councils and housing providers that can include targeted jobs and apprenticeships, local SME participation, litter picks and estate clean-ups, or resident education that actually changes behaviour. For charities it may include supported employment and surplus redistribution partnerships. We only include commitments you can measure and manage.
Typical local government and housing association requirements
Many councils ask us to reprocure communal and kerbside services with tighter contamination control, smarter data and a credible plan for consistent collections policy changes. Estate management teams and housing associations often need a full review of bin store layout and access, frequency and container mix, bulky waste pricing and response times, and how waste ties into wider grounds and cleaning contracts. Where DLOs provide part of the service and external contractors cover the rest, we design a mixed model that is clear on accountability and interfaces so nothing falls between the gaps. For NHS and care settings we align clinical streams, colour coding, storage limits and collection schedules with infection prevention and control, and we rationalise supplier lists across sites to standardise documentation and improve response.
Compliance and assurance built in
Every package embeds the Procurement Act 2023 transparency steps and auditable award reports. Waste Duty of Care is non negotiable, so contracts require correct Waste Transfer Notes or consignment notes, WCD licences and environmental permits for carriers and sites, and demonstrable routes to treatment. Data protection is addressed in confidential waste specifications and terms. Health and safety is handled pragmatically with method statements, risk assessments and site specific restrictions made real through mobilisation and toolbox talks, not just paper. We also make exit and transition obligations explicit so you can move supplier cleanly at end of term.
Flexible delivery models
Sometimes you need a full outsourced procurement function for a major relet. Sometimes you only need a short, sharp intervention to design the pricing schedule, moderate evaluations or negotiate the commercial schedule. We tailor our involvement to your capacity and risk appetite and can provide training and mentoring for buyer and evaluator teams so capability grows with each procurement.
Why teams choose us
You get category specialists who understand the operational reality of rounds, depots, HWRCs and estates, not just the regulations. Our documents are plain English and easy to use. Our evaluations are fair and defensible. Most importantly, the contracts we mobilise perform, with cleaner sites, fewer missed lifts, better data and lower total cost over the term.