Outsourced services specialists, Smart Solutions, has won and is now delivering a £2 million contract to provide managed services to support waste operations at a Welsh local authority.
Smart Solutions is employing 90 local staff, to work at Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council’s Materials Recycling Facility (MRF), providing 24-hour support at the site in Hirwaun, south Wales.
The initial two-year contract win sees Smart Solutions deliver staff to sort household recycling waste from Rhondda Cynon Taf, sorting over 120 tonnes of mixed recycling a day, which is then baled and sold back in to the manufacturing supply chain.
Since the onset of the contract in April 2014, Smart Solutions has met Rhondda Cynon Taf Council’s overall target of recycling 70 per cent of the materials coming into the facility for sorting.
Nathan Bowles, chief executive officer at Smart Solutions, said: “We’re delighted to have been successful in our bid to join forces with Rhondda Cynon Taf Council. Together, with the existing management team at the MRF, we are helping to ensure that the council is operating an efficient facility and delivering to its recycling targets.
“Smart Solutions is an experienced provider of managed services across the private sector, but it is a significant milestone in the company’s history to have been successful with this public sector bid.
“The contract win reflects the growth and development of our portfolio of clients and services that we have achieved in the last six years. By the council outsourcing the staff who operate the MRF, we can ensure that employees have training and professional development opportunities, as well as contracts of employment and access to a pension scheme. And at the same time, we’re able to provide Rhondda Cynon Taf Council with a flexible, cost effective and skilled workforce.
“Since the onset of the contract Smart has improved productivity, working practices, quality and recovery rates at the MRF. We’re now working Rhondda Cynon Taf Council to develop a plan to ensure the continued improvement of staff retention and health and safety standards at the MRF.”
Smart Solutions is currently operating a 24-hour workforce, five days a week managing and sorting the waste streams.
And through Smart’s range of outsourced services, employees working at the site have access to training in sustainable resource management.
Nigel Wheeler, director of streetcare at Rhondda Cynon Taf Council, said: “The Council has been pleased with the progress made by Smart Solutions with a smooth transition and positive approach to working together. The key priorities for the new arrangement are to secure local employment and to continue to improve the quality and productivity level at the facility. This has been achieved by working closely with Smart Solutions and we look forward to building on the positive start.”
Smart Solutions was established in 2007 and has become one of Wales’ most successful emerging brands, receiving a Welsh “FAST GROWTH 50” award four times, the only business in Wales to do so.