Head of council's new waste service appointed
Cllr Bridget Petty said Biffa’'s service has ‘not been good enough’. Picture: Mark Atherton - Credit: Archant
North Somerset Council has appointed the head of its latest recycling and waste taskforce.
Brain Veale has been entrusted to oversee the transition period where operating services will transfer between waste management company, Biffa, which has delivered kerbside collections since 2017, and the council-owned replacement.
The transition is expected to be completed by April 2021 with Brian stating he has already seen 'encouraging' signs.
Mr Veale said: "Although I have only met a small selection of the officers and members, the level of focus, energy and passion everyone shared for the residents and the environment was extremely encouraging.
"I aim to bring my experience of successfully improving the continuity and quality of resident services, delivering savings to existing council expenditure and ultimately creating a profitable operation to North Somerset’s recycling and waste service following the transfer from Biffa next year."
Previously, Mr Veale had set up a similar operation overseeing the delivery of the contract for street cleansing and estate management in the London Borough of Newham.
North Somerset Recycling Company will be responsible for kerbside waste collection and operate three recycling centres in Weston, Backwell and Portishead.
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Cllr Bridget Petty, the authority's executive member for recycling and waste, explained some of the factors that led to the council-owned enterprise being founded.
Cllr Petty said: "We believe that the best way to deliver the quality service we all need and deserve is to create a company that has North Somerset at its heart.
"We want an excellent and reliable recycling and waste collection service for our residents and having an external provider has not always given us the flexibility we want to respond to the needs of our area."
"We appreciate and value the staff who work on our collection rounds. Their response during the current pandemic has shown to all our residents that we have a great team of people out there in all weathers doing their best to deliver a reliable service."
There will be no immediate changes to the way North Somerset residents' waste is collected.
