Published: 5 February 2010
by JAMIE WELHAM

BINMEN won’t need a change of uniform after City Hall announced Veolia will retain the £518million contract to keep Westminster’s streets clean.
The seven-year deal will see more than 650 staff working around the clock in a bid to boost recycling rates across the borough.
The new contract begins in September 2010 and Veolia has announced it will be working on a new bin design to tackle the problem of discarded cigarette butts around the 628 miles of pavements in Westminster.
Councillor Danny Chalkley, cabinet member for city management, said: “We take great pride in the fact that in our area street sweepers and binmen are a regular and welcome sight, wherever you may live or work.
“We have managed to negotiate a great deal for the council tax payer by maintaining the same high standards of service people rightly expect of Westminster, with just as many bin collections and street-cleaning services as before, but at a substantial discount of £800,000 a year. We will also reduce our impact on the environment by using new low carbon technologies.”