composting guidance for residents and community groups in Gloucestershire

Tender description

Overview Gloucestershire Resources and Waste Partnership comprises the 6 district councils and county council in Gloucestershire. The Partnership aims to reduce waste and increase recycling in all districts of Gloucestershire, both from kerbside collections and at Household Recycling Centres. To do this the partnership has a dedicated group concentrating on public engagement. They work to spread waste minimisation messages, reducing costs to the councils for collecting and disposing of waste. Waste minimisation also reduces carbon emissions and other harmful impacts on the local environment from wasted resources. Background The Gloucestershire Resources and Waste partnership focuses on highlighting materials and projects that can help reduce waste. In the past they have held awareness and behaviour change campaigns on topics such as repair, metals, plastics and food waste. The partnership uses a wide variety of messages to reach the public including door to door canvassing, website and digital engagement, organic and paid for Social Media, Influencer Marketing, leafleting and magazine advertisement, out of home advertisements such as ad panels, banners and billboards and more. The Brief We are seeking quotes from suppliers to coordinate our composting activity, either by employing a coordinator or dedicating existing staff time to the project. The successful supplier will: • Manage our existing network of 15 Master Composter volunteers and grow our network, to a total of 25 volunteers • Launch and maintain a community composting support network • Encourage uptake of composting at home within Gloucestershire and report levels of composting participation across the county to the Gloucestershire Resources and Waste Partnership. • Work with the existing network of organisations in Gloucestershire to spread the word about composting including but not limited to the Local Nature Partnership, Gloucestershire Resources and Waste Partnership and Climate Leadership Gloucestershire. More information about the Composting Coordinator (CC) service • Over the course of the contract an equivalent of 3 days a week service should be provided and evidenced. This can be flexible to match need for activities during different seasons. • The service will need to be provided flexibly to match the needs of local community and voluntary projects. This is likely to include working during regular office hours and in the evenings and at weekends • The service should be experienced in working with a diverse range of community groups and groups we don’t currently reach to support and facilitate on-the-ground community action. This action should primarily take the form of in person events and can be supported by online activity. • Ideally the service should have some knowledge of composting but the organisation that holds the contract should also be able to support the coordinator with composting queries and in-depth expertise. More information about Master Composters Our Master Composters network is currently managed by Garden Organic. We have a dedicated team of 15 volunteers who advise on how to start composting and how to improve compost across a range of sites. The composting service would be responsible for developing the Master Composter volunteer scheme to deliver the following activities: • Ensure all hours and activities carried out by the composters are logged, aiming for 750 volunteer hours logged per year • Organising bimonthly meetings (6 a year) for the volunteers to share best practice and receive training • Linking the volunteers to opportunities to engage with the public and raising the profile of the volunteers within the county • Carrying out an analysis of the strengths and opportunities of the scheme and how it should be developed in the coming years More information about Community Composting • Host quarterly meetings with the community composting network. • There are currently 3 groups operating community composting schemes in Gloucestershire - the service would be responsible for growing this network to establish more community composting sites and supporting new applications. We anticipate that new sites could be set up mirroring models used in Brighton https://bhfood.org.uk/directory-hub/community-composting/ and the successful local model at Bisley Community composting site https://bisleycommunitycompostscheme.org.uk/ • The service should increase uptake of our ‘free compost bins for schools and community groups’ offer https://www.gloucestershirerecycles.com/reduce/composting/composting-in-schools/ More information on resident participation • Gloucestershire County Council offer discounted compost bins for residents, the service should look to increase resident participation with this scheme, aiming to get 500 people to start composting per year. • The service should put a monitoring programme in place to get feedback from the public about levels of participation in composting. • The service should support residents to compost through training, outreach events and through managing the Master Composter volunteers to support the public. The basic contract for all of the work described above will be for £30,000 pounds a year paid via quarterly invoice. An additional £5,000 a year will be available to support the establishment of community composting sites. Any expenditure against this fund will need to be invoiced separately on an as and when basis. The total value of this contract over 24 months is £70,000. Performance Monitoring Criteria Performance shall be monitored through quarterly reporting and meeting. Quarterly reports to be presented in a format indicating; • Number of volunteers currently in position, number of volunteer meetings held, attendance at meetings and number of training sessions held. • Number of volunteer hours logged. • Number of residents interacted with • Number of discounted compost bins bought (GCC to provide support). • Number of residents indicating they will start composting • Number of visits to GCC composting website (GCC to support) An annual Report is to be prepared at the end of the year covering: • Successes and challenges • A summary of the data contained in the quarterly reports • Evaluation of the scheme’s performance and recommendations for future developments. • Findings an annual public evaluation survey Reports shall be sent electronically to the Councils Sustainability and Engagement Officer or an appointed representative. Gloucestershire County Council policy requirements The successful contractor must provide GCC with the following information before project commencement: • The contractor should be compliant with GCC’s Information and Security Handling Standards for Contractors Policy • The contractor should complete GCC’s Baseline Security Standards – People Services form. • The contractor should either provide a valid Cyber Essentials Certificate OR complete GCC’s Cyber Essentials Security Standards form. Evaluation Criteria Proposals will be assessed on the value for money they offer the authority as well as the quality of the applications. Please see the attached spreadsheet for further details. Gloucestershire County Council has now set up an early payment service which aims to pay invoices earlier than the current 30 days. This is an opt in service. Full information and declaration form that must be completed are in ‘GCC Early Payments’ document. The budget should allow for: • All activities described above • All management and training costs for the volunteers • All management and training costs for staff • A 2 year long contract from June 2025 to May 2027. • Providing training to residents on composting through both online and in person sessions in Gloucestershire to be run by the service staff. Terms and conditions Please see the standard GCC terms and conditions included in the Procontract listing