Defra unveils details of 284m business waste initiative

Elliot Morley launched the Business Resource Efficiency and Waste (BREW) programme yesterday, an initiative originally announced in November last year (see letsrecycle.com story).

” The organisations that will be handling these funds are organisations that have already proven their worth to business.“
– Elliot Morley
The Landfill Tax – the tax paid on material sent to landfill – increases by 3 per tonne each year from its current level of 18 per tonne, with the Treasury's goal to ultimately raise it to 35 per tonne.

Defra is using some of the revenue generated by the Landfill Tax to fund a range of free services and targeted support for business under the three-year BREW initiative. It will specifically focus on waste minimisation, the diversion of waste from landfill and improvements to resource efficiency.

Funds
BREW will run for three years and will disperse its funds to businesses through other organisations including the Environment Agency, Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and the Department of Trade and Industry.

Commenting on the initiative, Mr Morley said: “The organisations that will be handling these funds are organisations that have already proven their worth to business, already they have collectively helped businesses in the UK to achieve over a billion pounds in cost savings.”

The first year funding is as follows:

• Envirowise – 12 million
• DTI – 10 million
• Regional Development Agencies – 5 million
• WRAP – 4 million
• Carbon Trust – 3 million
• Market Transformation Programme – 2 million
• Environment Agency – 2 million
• National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP) – 2 million
• Defra Waste Data Strategy – 1 million

A total of 43 million has been allocated in the first year, with 95 million available next year and 146 million in 2007/08.

Coordination
The BREW fund is to take on a strongly regional flavour through the work of the nine English regional development agencies. A BREW “steering group” is being set up to help co-ordinate the intiative's organisations so their activities don't overlap in certain regions.

Graham Tubb of the South East England Development Agency, explained: “We don't want two organisations knocking on the same door on consecutive days, so part of our funding will go towards developing regional coordination between each of the organisations involved.”

Mr Tubb said that most regional development agencies already worked closely with the Carbon Trust and Envirowise. The plan is to develop similar relationships with the other groups involved, he said.

Efficiency
Envirowise, the government's specialist business waste minimisation advice unit, has been offering Business Resource Efficiency Clubs in each of the English regions and this scheme will receive 2 million of the total Envirowise allocation.

The remaining 10 million will be used to enhance the Envirowise helpline and website, which offers support on environmental issues. It will also be able to offer its “fasttrrack” and “designtrack” visits to more companies. These schemes involve free visits from Envirowise experts who help companies reduce the environmental impact of specific products and reduce the cost of dealing with waste.

NISP – the National Industrial Symbiosis Programme – has been running two regional resource efficiency programmes in Humberside and the Midlands so far, but will be going nationwide with its BREW funding. The organisation helps companies to send their unwanted or low-value waste, which cannot be avoided, to other organisations that find it useful.

New markets
WRAP will be using 3 million of its grant on three new programmes focused on developing new markets for tyres, batteries and plasterboard.

WRAP’s Business Development Service, which provides funding and advice for businesses involved in recycling, has been allocated 500,000 to extend the service to cover companies operating in the new material sectors. The remaining half a million pound will fund a feasibility study to identify the best ways of promoting the collection and recycling of waste from small and medium-sized enterprises that do not currently recycle.