NOF, the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause money, has allocated 10.5m to environmental causes in Scotland – half of which will go to the 'Transforming Waste' programme.
The New Opportunities for Transforming Waste programme will be led by Forward Scotland – an independent charity promoting sustainable development – in partnership with the Recycling Advisory Group Scotland, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Keep Scotland Beautiful.
Commenting on the announcement, the chair of Forward Scotland, Anne Mearns, said: “Action at a community level is one of the best ways of achieving sustainable solutions to the problems of waste and local environmental improvement.”
The funds will be made available in early 2003 to projects that set out to expand community sector waste re-use, recycling or composting. Successful projects will need to demonstrate that they will promote the key aims and objectives of local waste strategies.
The Scottish Minister for Environment and Rural Development, Ross Finnie, welcomed the announcement, saying that Community involvement is a key factor in delivering Scotland's National Waste Strategy and local area waste strategies.
However, Mr Finnie warned: “Money alone cannot deal with waste and recycling. Part of turning around Scotland’s poor record on waste recycling is about changing attitudes.”
He added: “The Scottish Executive’s ambitious drive to recycle 25% of all municipal waste by 2006 can only be achieved through campaigns to change perceptions.”
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