John Leaver, who is also vice-chairman of the Association of Distributive Environmental Bodies, made a statement in response to the government's announcement that the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme is to be revised to ensure that more funds go to sustainable waste projects.
As part of its Pre-Budget Report, the Treasury said that only a third of the funds from the Landfill Tax will be available for community projects, with 65% to go to “sustainable waste projects”.
Projects
Reassuring projects that have already been told they have funding from SITA Environmental Trust, Mr Leaver said: “The Trust has only ever committed funds that are already in its possession, so we wish to reassure projects that are currently being supported by the Trust and those due to start shortly, that their funding has been reserved.”
The exact details of the changes to the LTCS have not yet been decided, although there are many already criticising the apparent intention of the government to hand out the money centrally, taking away the benefits from areas near landfill sites. The revisions to the LTCS are expected to be announced in the Budget during April 2003.
Impact
Mr Leaver said it is business as usual for the SITA Environmental Trust, which distributes around 10% of Landfill Tax money, while it assesses the likely impact of proposed changes to the scheme.
He said: “Our Trust has exceeded the indicative target set by the government last year, which stated that Distributive Environmental Bodies should direct 65% of funding to sustainable waste management projects. We have a considerable profile of live projects, many of which have recently started and will run well past April 2003.”
Some of the projects the Trust currently funds include the Eco-Schools waste awareness programme, which received 2 million, 3 million given to WRAP for its newspaper recycling project and 1.3 million that went into the recycling of domestic appliances.
“As an established fund-giving Trust, we are hopeful that we will continue to play a pivotal role in the future, albeit in what may be a modified form,” Mr Leaver said.
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