Municipal supply is won on documented compliance and lost on it. The product is commodity; the evidence pack is not, and most tender losses in this category are a paperwork failure rather than a price failure.
What you buy
| Product | Typical specification | Stream |
|---|---|---|
| Household refuse sacks | 30–40 µm, EN 13592 designated | kerbside collection |
| Heavy duty sacks | 50–60 µm | civic amenity sites |
| Clear recycling sacks | 30–40 µm | dry mixed recycling |
| Coloured sacks | 40 µm, blue / green / red | segregated streams |
| Compostable caddy liners | EN 13432, 7–30 L | food waste rounds |
| Wheelie bin liners | 40–50 µm, 120 / 240 / 1100 L | communal containers |
| PCR sacks | 30–80% recycled | where the tender sets a target |
Specifications, pack quantities and minimum orders for each: bin liners, stretch film, pallets, cling film.
What a tender submission needs
Prepared per line, supplied with the goods rather than on request:
- EN 13592 conformity with test evidence: drop and impact at rated load
- designation as P/L in millimetres — useful width and useful length, not a litre rating
- gauge with tolerance stated (nominal −5%)
- material declaration including recycled content percentage
- ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certificates from the manufacturing plant
- Declaration of Conformity per packaging type under PPWR
- packaging weight by material for the authority’s own reporting
We issue this as a specification sheet per line. A tender answered with a brochure instead of measured values is the most common way a compliant product loses to a less compliant one.
Litre ratings are not a specification
A “240 litre” sack has no standardised dimensions. Two suppliers can both answer a 240 L tender with sacks differing by 80 mm in width, and only one of them will turn over the container rim.
EN 13592 exists to remove this ambiguity: designate the sack as useful width and useful length in millimetres. A 240 L wheelie bin takes roughly 750/300 × 1150 mm; a 1100 L container takes roughly 1200/700 × 1400 mm. The bin liner size finder converts a container volume into the dimensions the standard uses.
Writing the millimetres into the tender specification makes bids comparable.
Recycled content targets
30%, 50% and 80% PCR are available across the sack range.
What to know before setting the target:
- Up to 50% there is no practical performance penalty on general waste.
- Above 50% puncture resistance falls and a grey cast appears that pigment does not fully hide. For a clear stream sack that has to be visually inspected, a high PCR target defeats the purpose of the stream.
- Recyclate supply is genuinely tight. An 80% specification can add a week at short notice. On an annual contract we hold material against the forecast.
Setting 100% as a headline target and then granting derogations every quarter costs more than setting 50% and holding it.
Contract volumes
Municipal contracts are the case where a call-off programme is clearly right: prices fixed quarterly rather than for 14 days, production scheduled against an annual forecast, stock held in Poland and released on call-off, one consolidated invoice per month.
The commitment is a forecast, not a fixed purchase.
Common mistakes
- Specifying by litres. It makes bids incomparable and is the root of most fit complaints.
- Setting a PCR target without asking about the stream. High PCR in a clear sack is a contradiction.
- Requesting compliance evidence after award. Ask for it in the bid; a supplier who cannot produce it in a week will not produce it in a year.