Long-term municipal waste partnership for the London Borough of Bexley
How long-term partnership is keeping one of London’s largest boroughs cleaner, greener and more efficient.
"We are looking forward to working together to improve services further and we particularly want to increase recycling even more and to help Bexley to be an even cleaner and greener borough."
– Councillor Richard Diment, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods
The Customer
London Borough of Bexley is one of the larger outer London boroughs providing essential public services to a community of over 250,000 residents. Keeping a borough that size clean, sustainable and running smoothly requires more than just a reliable contractor — it requires a genuine long-term partnership. That’s exactly what the London Borough of Bexley (Bexley Council) and Countrystyle have built together.
In 2018, Countrystyle was awarded a five-year contract to manage two Reuse and Recycling Centres (RRCs) and the Waste Transfer Station (WTS) at Thames Road. In 2021, Countrystyle were awarded a 10-year contract for the municipal and street cleansing operations for Bexley Council.
The Approach
Bexley sought an experienced operator to improve recycling rates, enhance site efficiency, and boost trade waste revenue while ensuring an excellent customer experience.To achieve this, Countrystyle:
- Introduced process improvements, staff training, and operational efficiencies to enhance recycling performance
- Streamlined site workflows to improve traffic flow and waste handling.
- Enhanced waste segregation to increase recycling rates and reduce contamination.
- Upskilled staff to maximise resource recovery and improve public engagement.
- Investments in technology for greater efficiency and sustainability
Phil Bovis, Senior Contract Manager, Countrystyle Recycling, said:
“We invested heavily in transforming the culture of the operation, and all our crews now have an annual training programme, which has helped us retain a motivated workforce. Combining this with the improved reliability of our fleet through better maintenance, and investment in new technology, we have been able to focus on delivering a great service for local residents.”
Results
- 99.91% collection efficiency, with all missed bins collected within 24 hours.
- Our best performing month since contract start was November 2025, where 681 reported missed bins from 1,064,104 collections carried out.
- Improved waste segregation and recycling rates.
- 13 million waste collections each year across the borough.
- Provision of approximately 40,000 receptacles to residents each year, ensuring all households have the correct containers for their waste disposal.
- Trade waste collections, managing around 138,000 collections each year on behalf of the Borough.
- Skip collections, carrying out all skip work on behalf of the London Borough of Bexley — approximately 700 collections each year.
- Street cleansing across 570 kilometres of public highways.
- Full maintenance of the 570-kilometre gully network across the borough.
- Winter maintenance provision across all 570 kilometres of the borough, including gritting, snow ploughing and hand salting.
- Management of the Thames Road Depot facility on behalf of the London Borough of Bexley.
Through its partnership with Countrystyle, Bexley continues to advance its recycling efforts by increasing Bexley’s’ recycling rate from 42.7% to 48% since the municipal contract commenced in 2021 delivering environmental benefits, generating rebates for the council, and achieving meaningful savings for taxpayers. Countrystyle are also currently trialling the widespread use of HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil), across our fleet, where it is expected that we can cut our Co2 emissions by up to 90%.
Our close working relationship with Bexley Council means we’re able to offer strategic advice that goes beyond day-to-day contract delivery. A clear example of this is the approach we took to fleet management ahead of significant changes to waste collections nationally.
With the Government’s Simpler Recycling initiative introducing new requirements for food waste collections to all residents across the borough including high rise, we advised Bexley Council not to procure a replacement fleet until the full implications of the legislation became clear. Rather than risk a costly decision based on incomplete information, we undertook a detailed review of the existing 10-year-old fleet and identified trusted partners to carry out a targeted refurbishment programme instead — improving reliability and safeguarding frontline services to residents, while allowing the council to defer the capital expenditure needed for a full fleet replacement.
The refurbished vehicles will continue operating while we monitor the evolving waste landscape, and once the impact of any new legislation is better understood, we’ll assist and advise Bexley on the right fleet profile going forward.
These improvements and promises to better the service we provide have not gone unnoticed. Councillor Richard Diment, Bexley’s Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods said,
“Over the last three years, we’ve worked closely with Countrystyle to improve the service for our residents, and we welcome their ongoing investment.”
“We are looking forward to working together to improve services further and we particularly want to increase recycling even more and to help Bexley to be an even cleaner and greener borough”.
Comprehensive Waste Management Solutions for Local Authorities
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