Redován will implement the fifth container and improve waste collection with more recycling containers

  • The service will be provided seven days a week, instead of the current six, and will also have advanced and more modern machinery
  • The next plenary session will launch the call for tenders for the service, and once the specifications have been published, companies will be able to submit tenders

The government team in the Redován Town Hall will take to the next plenary session the start of the tender for the waste collection and street cleaning service with the approval of the specifications that will govern the contract. Once the plenary session is over, the documentation will be sent to the Public Procurement Portal so that companies can apply for the tender. This was announced at a press conference by the town’s mayor, Nely Ruiz, and the councillor for finance, Adrián Ballester, accompanied by the councillor for municipal services, Ramón López, who stressed that the service was being updated to meet the needs of the population and the measures needed to protect the environment, with the introduction of the fifth container for organic waste and the increase in the number of containers for recycling containers, plastics, paper, cardboard and glass.

The head of the municipal Treasury Department explained that a specialised firm has been responsible for preparing the specifications and the operating project to be fulfilled by the company that is awarded the contract, which is one of the most important contracts for the Redondo City Council and which will significantly improve the service currently provided. Ballester added that the process will be transparent, since the Contracting Committee will include both municipal technicians who are familiar with the local situation and technicians from the Alicante Provincial Council, who are specialists in this type of contract. Once awarded, the contract will be audited by an external agent during its execution.

Redován Town Council is putting the contract out to public tender for a sum of 432.924,74 euros (without VAT) per year, and wants to incorporate the latest technology and most environmentally friendly methods into this service. Therefore, the collection of the organic fraction separated from the rest of the waste will be included through the implementation of the brown container in the streets of the municipality. “We will be one of the first municipalities in the Vega Baja to incorporate this legal and environmental requirement into a contract”, explained the mayor, Nely Ruiz, who added that “our aim is to have the best technological systems to provide an effective and rapid response to all needs”. In addition, the first mayor has assured that once the service has been set up, the rubbish will be collected from Monday to Sunday, “and not six days like now”.

Another of the points to be highlighted is containment. “On the one hand we are looking to increase recycling and transform Redován into a green municipality, which is why we want to increase the number of containers both for rest and organic waste and for lightweight packaging and paper and cardboard”, said Ruiz, who added that “we want the waste to be collected two days a week, instead of one day”. In this sense, it will also be included as a requirement that Redován has two fixed containers for the removal of pruning and other waste, although the tender price does not include the treatment and disposal of waste assumed by the City Council.

The mayor has assured that “in addition to having the most advanced and modern machinery, the company must have a facility in Redován to make the cleaning of the municipality and the collection of waste more effective and have a direct contact with the citizens”. There will also be GPS control of all vehicles used for waste collection.

The council of the Treasury, Adrian Ballester, explained that the industrial benefit of this tender is quantified at 23.192,40 euros, “since the rest of the costs are the general costs of any company (payment of payroll, purchase of trucks, etc.). Ballester has assured that with this industrial benefit, 5% of the contract, “we do not assume any risk and all the responsibility for managing possible worker absences, accidents or vehicle breakages is transferred to the company”. In this sense, specialized companies “can also buy vehicles cheaper than the City Council, as they buy more”. The also first deputy mayor said that “our goal is to improve as much as we can a service, which is provided in the same conditions since 2003, so we will provide more hours of service, installation of dog bag dispensers, extra buckets or increase the number of containers.

Group participation

Redován’s government team has worked on the new urban waste collection and street cleaning contract with opposition groups. In this sense, there was a Board of Spokespersons in which the entire tender was explained. Afterwards, individualised meetings were called with each group where the opinions and suggestions of the different political groups were collected. These improvements have led to changes in the specifications so that they were consensual. The mayor, Nely Ruiz, has assured in this respect that “we are before one of the most important contracts of this legislature, for that reason we have needed the consensus of all to take out this tender, since the only thing that matters to us is the well-being of our neighbours, to improve their quality of life and to do it with total transparency”.

Redován will update the rubbish tax to improve service and alleviate the current budget deficit

  • The City Council will finance with 20% the total cost of maintaining a basic service such as urban waste collection and street cleaning

The government team of Redován City Council will take to the next plenary session, scheduled for next week, the update of the rubbish rate to adjust it to the reality and the needs of the service in the municipality. At the moment, the waste collection service is causing the Redován Town Council to have a significant budget deficit, although the local government plans to continue financing up to 20% of the total cost of this basic service to prevent the increase in the rate from causing greater problems for the domestic economy of Redován residents. For this reason, the increase in the fee will be 22.55 euros per year in the bill, from 76.45 euros to 99 euros the total amount to be paid in each year.

The mayor of Finance, Adrian Ballester, explained that “this is an important measure, because we want to adjust the current budgetary parameters, as the City Council assumes 20% of the total cost of the service. In this sense, the objective is to alleviate, at least in part, the deficit that the municipal coffers register “and that the neighbours do not have loss of economic capacity, since the increase will mean only 1.87 euros per month per household. Also, Ballester has assured that the City Council makes a great effort since it pays part of the service “and we do not consider to stop doing it, to help the neighbours in a difficult time, which also means the pandemic at this time and without having yet overcome the effects of the economic crisis that devastated our region and our people for more than a decade.

The change in the rate of solid waste collection has also been approached in a complex manner, and will have a different application in the commercial and business sphere than in the domestic sphere. “The generation of waste in the case of industries is very different to what families produce, so we believe it is essential and fair to adjust the parameters in this regard,” said the councillor of Finance.

The also spokesman of the municipal government has informed that one of the objectives of the Town Hall is to fulfill as it should and with all the guarantees with the basic services in the municipality. And he defended that the Council is making an “enormous effort” to adjust all the economic parameters and that the services continue, as happened with the water. In this case, Ballester indicated that the government team wants the waste collection service to improve as well and that the residents will see how, little by little, it changes and is modernised, adding that “the modification of rates is thus in line with what other municipalities in the Vega Baja region have”.