Rejected firm says city has lost green future

The company that missed out on a contract to take over street cleaning and bin collection services in Edinburgh today said the city had missed out on the chance to become “one of the cleanest and greenest cities in the UK”.

A deal to outsource the services to Enterprise was rejected after Steve Cardownie’s SNP group sided with Labour to keep the environmental services contract in-house.

In response to the decision, Enterprise Scotland’s operations director Alasdair Slessor said: “We are disappointed by the council’s decision to reject our bid. It was one that the officers of the council recommended for acceptance as they believed it was in the very best interests of the people of Edinburgh, providing best value after a long and intensive procurement process.”

He added: “We believe in the strength of our bid, as it guaranteed value for money savings of £71 million and would have established Edinburgh as one of the cleanest and greenest cities anywhere in the UK.

“Our proposals included a commitment to recruiting 30 modern apprentices per year.

“The simplified waste and recycling service would have raised the proportion of waste recycled to almost two thirds.”