Blaming changes made to the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme, its major funding source, Waste Watch has now closed its Business Network. The network had consisted of two London branches and had undertaken waste minimisation work including consultancy support and an online materials exchange.
Announcing the closure of its Business Network, Waste Watch said the project had diverted 1,977 tonnes of material from landfill and had saved its members 438,880. It said of this, the network's materials exchange – called ResourceXchange – had diverted 271 tonnes of material from landfill and saved members 142,700 since 1998.
However, the group could not reveal how much the project had cost, with a spokeswoman explaining that the details were complicated by difficulties surrounding a merger between a group called Waste Busters and Waste Watch in 2001.
One of the network's funders, Shanks First, has since told letsrecycle.com that for the last two of the network's six years, it had provided one of the two branches with 240,750 of Landfill Tax Credits.
Awareness
Commenting on the closure of the Business Network, Waste Watch senior marketing manager Laura Jansen said: “One of the main emphases of Waste Watch Business Network, apart from helping members reduce waste and waste costs, was awareness raising, which is very hard to measure. The success of the network should not be measured in pounds and tonnages alone. It takes time for people to see the results of the measures they have implemented.”
The government changed the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme in April 2003 so that it no longer funded sustainable waste management projects. This was because it was felt that the money – taken from the Landfill Tax – could be more effectively used through a public waste management programme.
Following the end of the Landfill Tax funding, Waste Watch is now looking for funding for its ResourceXchange from London councils, and the spokeswoman said that the group already has “a number of London boroughs on board”.
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