A NEW company should be picked next week to take over Wycombe's waste collection service.

The existing company, Onyx, is pulling out of its contract with Wycombe District Council in April and paying the council a substantial sum for the privilege.

The company won the seven-year contract in October 1996, with a tender of £1 million a year, plus yearly updates for inflation.

For this it collects waste once a week from 64,000 properties in the district.

Richard Powell, engineering manager for Wycombe District Council, said the contract price was very low cost and good value but Onyx had been making losses.

He said the compensation paid by Onyx was a negotiated sum and not in the public domain at present.

Maurice Oram, leader of the Lib Dems on the council, said his party thought at the time the tender price was too low, but the company had insisted it could operate it.

New contractors will be picked on January 25, at a special confidential meeting of the council's policy and resources committee and ratified by the full council immediately afterwards.

Onyx also operates waste collection for other authorities including Westminster. Mr Powell said it had negotiated itself out of a couple of other contracts.

The Onyx contract will finish on Sunday, April 22 and the new company take over the following day.