The Waste Management Services PFI Contract (WMSC) between Herefordshire Council and Worcestershire County Council and Mercia Waste Management Ltd (Mercia) was signed in December 1998 for 25 years. It is important to recognise that the WMSC was for an integrated solution to be delivered by Mercia for the disposal of all Local Authority Collected Waste (LACW), known as ‘Contract Waste’ arising within the two counties.

The original procurement process undertaken prior to the award of the WMSC envisaged a contract of up to 30 years. The WMSC also includes contractual mechanisms for the proposed extension. There is nothing within the current WMSC which would preclude the proposed variation to the contract to deliver the defied outcomes from the Integrated Waste Management Strategy.

On 25 November 2021 Cabinet approved both the new waste collection service model and for the council to progress Mercia’s proposal for extending the duration of the WMSC for a period of five years until 11 January 2029 by entering into a variation of the existing WMSC.

Since November 2021 significant due diligence has been undertaken with support from specialist legal, finance and technical consultants on the proposed extension and variations to the WMSC.

Through the contract extension and variation Mercia have commit to defer taking sufficient commercial waste to enable a reduction to just 1% of Herefordshire’s waste going to landfill from 2022.

On 28 November 2022 the Council jointly published a Voluntary Ex-Ante Transparency (VEAT) Notice in order to provide voluntary prior transparency.

In order to undertake the extension and variation the Joint Working Agreement between Worcestershire County Council (WCC) and Herefordshire Council has been updated to reflect the extended term of the WMSC and future arrangements between WCC and the Council.