The company wants PLN 45 million from the city. This is how much it is supposed to cost for errors in the waste tender

• The court confirmed irregularities in the tender for waste collection in Zabrze.
• The consortium that was responsible for waste collection before the tender requested its invalidation and reinstatement to the task.
• The Alba company sent the city a demand for payment in the total amount of PLN 45 million gross.

"In connection with the final judgment of the District Court in Warsaw, today we sent to the City Hall a demand for payment in the total amount of PLN 44,951,274.51 gross," Alba said in a press release.

The company expects payment by May 14, 2025 (7 days from the date of receipt of the request).

The company’s summons is the result of a final judgment of a Warsaw court, which confirmed irregularities in the waste collection tender.

"The validity of the claim was determined by the final judgment of the District Court in Warsaw of March 24, 2025, in which it was found that the City of Zabrze violated the provisions of the Public Procurement Law and that the selection of PreZero's offer as the most advantageous in the proceedings was unlawful. In this way, as a result of the unlawful action of the City of Zabrze, the damage to the assets of WPO Alba was quantified," Alba wrote.

The companies explained that the damage included the amount of PLN 43,989,064.70 gross for the Consortium’s lost profits and the amount of PLN 964,209.81 gross for the costs incurred by WPO Alba in order to collect the containers, “which costs would not have been incurred in the event of concluding a public procurement agreement with the Consortium.”

The city informs that it does not recognize Alba's claim.

- The concluded agreement has not been invalidated, nor has any compensation been awarded to WPO Alba SA and FCC ŚLĄSK Sp. z oo. Therefore, there is no basis for changing the company dealing with the collection of municipal waste. The residents of Zabrze do not have to worry about either price increases or the action of changing waste containers during the current agreement - said Jakub Szołdra-Laszczyk from the press office of the Zabrze City Hall, in an interview with Dziennik Zachodni.

It is probably to be expected that the case will end up in court. Paying PLN 45 million is a huge amount for Zabrze, especially since the city is struggling with huge financial problems.

The dispute concerns a tender for the collection of municipal waste from Zabrze that was resolved in the autumn of 2024. The most advantageous offer was submitted by PreZero Service Południe, and the city concluded an agreement with it. The offer was over PLN 13 million lower than the offer of the WPO Alba and FCC Śląsk consortium, which was previously responsible for the collection and removal of waste from the city.

The consortium appealed against the tender result to the National Chamber of Appeal in Warsaw, and ultimately the case went to court, which confirmed in a final judgment of 24 March that there were irregularities in the tender.

The consortium demanded the invalidation of the new contract and the reinstatement of WPO Alba/FCC to perform the service. Despite numerous talks between the city and the former operators, no agreement could be reached, and the consortium announced that it would file a demand for payment of the losses incurred.