This is a Joint Tender for Blue Mountains City Council and Hawkesbury City Council. Each Council will have representatives on the tender evaluation panel. The governing body of each Council will make recommendations to award an individual contract for that Council only. This joint RFT would result in two separate contracts, one for Blue Mountains City Council and one for Hawkesbury City Council. Blue Mountains City Council and Hawkesbury City Council are not jointly liable for each other’s conduct during the procurement process.

Blue Mountains City Council and Hawkesbury City Council (jointly referred to hereafter as Council), through this Request for Tender are seeking an experienced contractor to assist with the management of Mixed Paper and Cardboard delivered by customers to Council’s three Waste Management Facilities. The Mixed Paper and Cardboard is source-separated material dropped off at the facilities by residents and businesses from their vehicles or trailers into designated skip bins under the supervision of attending staff. The staff monitor what is put into these bins and remove incorrectly sorted items.

An average of approximately 367 tonnes per year (~7.1 tonnes per week) of Mixed Paper and Cardboard is received across BMCC’s two waste management facilities. The Mixed Paper and Cardboard received at Blaxland Waste Management Facility (BWMF) is transported by Council to Katoomba Waste Management Facility (KWMF), where it is stored in a large building prior to collection.

An average of approximately 236 tonnes per year (~4.5 tonnes per week) of Mixed Paper and Cardboard is received at HCC’s Hawkesbury City Waste Management Facility (HCWMF).

Background information / Compatibility requirements

Mixed Paper and Cardboard is dropped off by residents at the Blaxland and Katoomba Waste Management Facilities free of charge for recycling. The material is transported from BWMF to KWMF by Council trucks as backloads, where it is compacted into bales. An informal arrangement with AP’s Waste and Recycling is currently in place to collect the bales from KWMF on an ad hoc basis as required and transport it to a processing facility. This arrangement is cost-neutral to Council due to the payments AP’s receives for the material from the processor. However, there may be potential to earn revenue from this material if its value exceeds transport costs and the difference is paid to Council.

This procurement will establish a formal, contracted, long-term arrangement with one or more businesses to provide Mixed Paper and Cardboard collection and/or processing services to Council to ensure accountability, risk and liability management, and cost certainty. An average of 367 tonnes of Mixed Paper and Cardboard per year has been collected from Council’s waste management facilities for the past 3 financial years. Having this material collected diverts it from landfill, extending the life of the landfill and reducing greenhouse gas emissions; ensures it is recycled for beneficial secondary uses; and reduces the consumption of trees, energy, water and oil. This aligns with Objective 3.3 of the BMCC Community Strategic Plan 2035: “The Blue Mountains transitions towards zero waste and carbon neutral living”; and Strategy 3.3b “Minimise waste – avoid, reduce, reuse and recycle”. This procurement will ensure the continuing contribution to the following 2 Progress Measures specifically:

• Total waste going to landfill per capita [decrease]

• Proportion of waste diverted from landfill [increase]

This procurement will allow for the continuation of Council’s facility drop off services for Mixed Paper and Cardboard, which are well-utilised by the community.