Market engagement on proposed lotting structure for upcoming procurement for a Food Waste Contract (FWC) in accordance with the statutory duties of the East London Waste Authority (ELWA).

ELWA conducted initial preliminary market engagement in respect of its forthcoming competitive flexible procurement of a Food Waste Contract (FWC) in September and October 2025 (Notice reference: 2025/S 000-052845 for further details).

As part of the exercise, ELWA published a Market Operator Briefing Note in which it explained that the main objective of the FWC contract is to maximise recycling of food waste. In the Briefing Note, ELWA explained that there are currently no food waste collections but modelled for the Joint Strategy using 35% reuse and recycling rates is approximately 25,000 tonnes for 2028/29.

ELWA also stated in the Briefing Note that it was unlikely to sub-divide the contract into lots based on tonnage, but asked market operators for their views on benefits of sub-dividing the contract into lots.

ELWA had 4 respondents to this initial PME, and in respect of sub-division into lots, the majority of respondents expressed a preference for sub-division. However, operators expressed different preferences into how these lots should be structured. For example, options presented included:

- Creating lots based on tonnage; and

- Splitting lots by reference to geographical boroughs.

Respondents also provided their minimum and maximum processing capacities.

In preparing for the launch of this procurement in April 2026, ELWA seeks views from the market in respect of the lotting structure for the procurement on the points included in the "Engagement Process Description" of this notice.