New environmental management contract to support Summerhill Waste Management Centre

City of Newcastle Councillors awarded a tender for specialist services at Summerhill Waste Management Centre which will allow staff to quickly identify and respond to environmental risks onsite.

The service will add further specialist skills to complement the existing on site expertise, to deliver extensive environmental monitoring and reporting programs to lead Summerhill into a more environmentally sustainable future.

In addition, the City, together with the specialist services of the awarded tenderer, will invest in developing a long-term electronic data management approach to housing environmental data captured at Summerhill to improve efficiencies and aim to improve transparency following a robust monitoring and data review. This will ultimately provide for ease of public access to information.

The contract value is estimated at around $750,000 per annum, over three years. This includes the investment in a new data approach, and access to a significant number of specialists from various environmental disciplines.

City of Newcastle Waste Services Manager Troy Uren said Summerhill Waste Management Centre had an important role to play in championing environmental sustainability as the second largest and most regionally significant waste management facility in NSW.

“With Newcastle’s population predicted to grow by 21% to more than 200,000 by 2041, and the Hunter flagged as one of the State’s fastest growing areas, we need to sustainably manage the imminent increase in waste output,” Mr Uren said.

“The City has identified the need to engage external environmental expertise to use the latest technology at Summerhill, ensuring it continues to operate sustainably as a regional facility.

“Our aim is to ensure we continue to get the little things right, which then ensures we can deliver the other benefits the community expect, such as our new Organics Processing Facility, and a proposed Material Recovery Facility to process recyclables locally.

“Summerhill’s strategic location and landfill capacity means it is ideally located and placed to offer benefit to the region as other facilities reach capacity over the next decade or so.”

Following a competitive tender process, the recommended tenderer was awarded by the Council at tonight’s Ordinary Council Meeting.

The recommended tenderer achieved the highest ranking via the assessment process and has been evaluated as providing the best value for money tender considering all price and non-price factors relevant to the proposed contract, and a demonstrated ability to provide similar services across a range of industries.