Bristol Waste Councillors vote to renew in-house firm's deal despite issues

BRISTOL

- Alex SEABROOK

Waste was praised by councillors who voted to renew its contract despite issues with missed collections and recent legal problems.The company is owned by Bristol City Council and collects the bins from thousands of homes across the city, but the contract expires in 2027.

The council set up Bristol Waste in 2015 and a decade-long contract began in 2016. Bins will still be collected by the firm after 2027, as councillors were told that outsourcing bin collections to a private company would likely be more expensive and less reliable than the current set up.

But the contract between the council and Bristol Waste will be changed, to give the council greater control and try to drive up reliability. The contract renewal was approved in principle by councillors on the environment policy committee on Thursday, December 18.