The process for awarding the contract for street cleaning and trash collection in Benidorm hasn’t gone as quickly as one might think, but the bidding process started right away when it was approved. The tender notification came out last Sunday, and the deadline is January 19th at 11:59 PM. The current containers are broken in several places, but this contract will let them be replaced.
Last Friday, December 19th, at an emergency plenary session, the City Council approved the tender requirements. The PP and Vox parties voted for them, but the PSOE voted against them, saying that not all of the judgements of the Central Administrative Court of Contractual Appeals (TACRC), which had thrown out the old specifications after they had already been sent out to tender, had been included. The Socialists filed the appeal based on the Comptroller’s findings, which they could do because they voted against the proposal.
The contract is now up for €249.7 million over ten years (including a one-year transition period). This means that the service will cost about €25 million per year. It is a mixed works and services contract because about €8.7 million of the total will be used to build a logistics warehouse on a piece of land that the Valencian Regional Government’s Digital Transformation Projects Company and the company have agreed on. The construction of this warehouse must be finished within 14 months after signing the contract. It will hold all non-production activities, such as offices, changing rooms, and more.
The current system has been in place since 1993. Since then, improvements, investments, and changes to follow the rules have been made, but these actions stopped eight years ago, which is now over. In addition, the new service would completely change the way the current waste containers work, save for underground containers and those that have just been given money to collect biowaste and compost from homes or communities.
The procurement documents say that the municipal service is made to be “sufficiently flexible” to handle the changes in workload that come with visitor demand. The goal is “to avoid both not having enough equipment and having too much equipment, for a more efficient service.” They say that the current equipment “is fully amortised and has far exceeded its theoretical lifespan,” so they are proposing a “completely new service, built from scratch and without any remnants of the previous contract, except for the existing underground container infrastructure and current labour agreements.”
Their plan includes reducing the number of containers on public roads and using door-to-door collection systems for as many types of waste as possible, such as biowaste, light packaging, glass, paper/cardboard, used vegetable oil, and mixed waste. This will make it easier, closer, and more flexible for users. Also, the Horeca sector (hotels, restaurants, and cafes) will have to do source separation and selective collection of certain types of waste, as required by Article 24 of the Valencian Community’s Comprehensive Waste Management Plan (PIRCVA). For retail enterprises, paper and cardboard will be picked up at the entrance. According to the data in the contract specifications, almost 60% of garbage comes from tourism-related activities like hotels, stores, second residences, and unregulated rental houses.
The tender document says that the PIRCVA must set up incentive systems for customers to correctly handle their trash, based on the idea of “pay-as-you-throw.” So, they suggest an incentive structure that pays those who do their part to protect the environment and punishes people who don’t. This applies to both people who live here and people who are just passing through. However, the person who wins the bid will have to say what the particular criteria are in their bid.
Author: Derek Appleton
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