WREN is a body set up by WRG to distribute grants generated from money that landfill operators have reclaimed from the treasury as a tax credit to be awarded to capital projects for communities.
Mr Meredith said: “It allows us to fulfil our social responsibilities and give money back to local communities.”
FCC
He referred to the acquisition of WRG by Spanish firm FCC and added: “We have been bought by FCC who have a very strong social agenda which is quite common with European operators. They see it as one of the fundamental things they can do to help local communities.”
The UK's landfill tax credit scheme is voluntary and not all landfill operators sign up to it, primarily WRG believes because the funding covers 90% of the project's costs and the remaining 10% must be met by the operator or a third party.
In his speech, Mr Meredith called on the government to reasses the amount that must be raised above the treasury's limits and reduce it to 2% instead of 10%.
WRG's general manager of external affairs Mike Snell told letsrecycle.com: “The 10% that must be found could be seen as quite a high cost for some operators, especially smaller ones to meet so not all landfill operators are involved. It's a greatly under exposed scheme and we try very hard to promote to it because not enough people know it does a fantastic job.”
He also explained that in 1998, WREN funded 95 projects from a pot of £2.3 million and that by 2006, this had risen to 532 from £12.4 million claimed backed from the treasury. In 2007, it expects to fund 4,000 projects with £100m.
People attending the event included recipients of the funding which ranged from a children's play area in Wyndham Park, Grantham, to a medieval hall in Norwich and an RSB reserve in Dearne Valley to a meadow in Woolston. Speakers included MP Gwyneth Dunwoody.
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