Through its privatised household waste and recycling service, Calderdale Council have been handing over public money to a subsidiary of a global waste and water company that puts profits above the human right to water and other vital utilities.

But Calderdale Council’s contract with Sita runs out shortly and the Council has put a new waste and recycling contract out to tender.

This raises some questions about:

• the conditions that Calderdale Council requires companies to meet, before they can bid for contracts to run our public services
• the specifications for the household waste & recycling service – what it collects, when and where.

Plain Speaker suggests that the process of privatising public services should include the online publication of all procurement documents, so the public can see what our money is being spent on, whether the contract specifications meet the public’s needs and whether companies bidding for the contracts are ethically fit to provide public services. Continue reading →