Straight picks up council wheelie bin contract worth £4m

The deal is worth 4m in revenues and will see the Leeds-based company supply two and four-wheeled plastic bins ranging from 80 litres to 1,000 litres.

The contract was won from Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation (ESPO) and the Central Buying Consortium (CBC) and lasts for 33 months. Straight was one of four successful bidders for the framework agreement.

Although Straight has supplied ESPO and CBC with wheelie bins under previous framework agreements, this is the first time the group will supply its own products. It follows Straight's recent acquisition of the UK business of wheelie bin manufacturer Helesi.

ESPO and CBC are local government purchasing and distribution hubs which cover an area stretching from North Nottinghamshire through to Hampshire, including Bristol and Norfolk.

Straight chief executive Jonathan Straight said: "Having recently completed the acquisition of Helesi's UK business, our inclusion in this framework agreement is hugely timely.

"Although historically Straight hasn't had proprietary wheeled bin products, we have still managed to secure a 10 to 15 per cent share of the UK wheeled bin market.

"We believe that the opportunity to grow our market share is considerable."

Last month Straight bought the bulk of waste company Helesi's UK business for 1.65m in cash. The deal gave the group its first branded wheelie bin.

The opportunity arose after the Greek company decided to stop manufacturing in the UK and move to Northern Greece and Italy.

Straight bought Helesi's order book and certain assets, but not Helesi's warehouse in Bradford.