Wood chip recycling - Hampshire

Hampshire County Council, in partnership with Portsmouth City Council and Southampton City Council, manages 26 Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) across the county where residents can deposit their bulky household and garden waste. These facilities are well used, receiving more than 4m visitors per year and handling over 130,000 tonnes of material.

A key waste stream which householders regularly bring to HWRCs is wood. The composition ranges from damaged and unwanted furniture items through to fence panels and dismantled sheds. Last year (2022/23), wood accounted for over 20% of inputs into the system. It is recognised that processing waste wood now attracts a significant cost to local authorities, and therefore in the current financial climate it is important that all councils regularly monitor their services to ensure that they continue to represent best value for the council taxpayer.

The primary objective of the market engagement exercise is to understand the capabilities and capacity within the market, and to identify how the market can support the Council and gain insight into the most suitable delivery model.

The Council intends to engage with market operators via an Engagement Questionnaire to gauge interest and opinion on service delivery and procurement options.

Details of how to find the questionnaire are given in section 11.2.4 below