Environment minister Elliot Morley revealed on Friday that the money will go to those councils in England that narrowly missed out on the second round of DEFRA's 140 million recycling fund, which was awarded in 2002 (see letsrecycle.com story).
The Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee have welcomed the announcement, particularly because the money will be going to councils who missed out on funding last year, rather than to existing beneficiaries.
Commenting on the government's announcement, LARAC chair Andy Doran said: “It is pleasing to see the new Minister make this early award to local authority recycling projects and this is a reflection of its importance as an issue, especially in this year of the first statutory targets. It is also recognition of the work and investment still needed in the recycling infrastructure to assist local authorities in achieving the high levels of household recycling they are capable of.”
Mr Doran added: “We hope this is just the first step in a sustained and planned investment programme that will ultimately benefit households across the country by giving better access to recycling schemes.”
LARAC said that because money will go to councils who applied for the 140m fund the distribution process for the 24m fund will be quicker than the process was last year, since councils will already have their applications ready.
However, the committee expressed concern that equipment suppliers might not cope with the demand on top of that stemming from last year's fund. The government held a series of meetings with suppliers of recycling boxes and bins during May to look at the problem of coping with local authority demand from the 140m (see letsrecycle.com story).
London
Although exact amounts are yet to be determined in the 24m, a specified 3.6m will go to London on top of the 21.3m that went to the capital last year. As with last year's money, the 3.6m will be distributed by the London Recycling Fund, a collaboration of the Mayor, the Association of London Government and London Waste Action.
The money will help London boroughs move towards the overall London target of 17% recycling rates.
Commenting on the additional funds, Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said: “We’re working hard with the boroughs now to make recycling more accessible to all Londoners. This extra resource couldn’t have come at a better time.”
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