The SITA Trust has won praise from the University of Northampton for its five-year-long, £1.5 million worth of support for the university's waste management education work. But, an element of uncertainty hangs over the future funding of the waste-related courses.

Ann Tate, the university's vice chancellor, speaking at an event to market the ending of the support last week, said that the SITA Trust had helped turned the department into a "world-leading centre."

The University of Northampton marks the end of five years of support from the SITA Trust

The SITA Trust allocates funds from the Landfill Communities Fund (formerly the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme) but can no longer support Northampton as the government dropped education and waste-related work from the list of eligible projects in favour of work with young people and the environment.

As a consequence the trust has been forced to pull the plug on its support for Northampton, although parent company SITA UK is expected to continue some involvement in the short term.

At the event last week Marek Gordon, chairman of the SITA Trust, said that it had aimed to create the "premier centre for waste education and this is a case of mission accomplished." He said it was a "shame from our perspective that we should not be allowed to fund the work any more."

He added: "When looking at what has been achieved over the last five years, there can be little doubt the ambition has been realised. The plan has delivered on a wide range of initiatives, ranging from the very successful and popular Waste Awareness Certificate aimed at the waste producer sector, through to the development of the WARMNET, a collaborative network of universities involved in waste management research."

Proud 

The waste management work at Northampton has been championed by Dr Margaret Bates, SITA Centre manager. Dr Bates said: "We are extremely proud of our accomplishments and are very grateful to all of our local, national and international partners. It is with their help that we have grown into the world's foremost centre for education and research in this increasingly important field of study."

Dr Bates added that the department would welcome support from other organisations. However, she highlighted the increasing number of students involved within the department, including an expected 15-20 MSc students who will take up a new waste course