This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Funding for community waste initiatives
08/10/2003
Community initiatives to reduce, reuse and recycle waste will benefit from £5 million in funding over two years, it was announced today.
Speaking to the Environment and Rural Development committee, Environment and Rural Development Minister Ross Finnie said:
"The community and voluntary sector were aware of reduce, reuse and recycle long before the rest of us. I believe the community sector, working in partnership with local authorities, has a strong role to play in sustainable waste management.
"This role is varied and covers work in rural areas, in specialised markets, spreading the key messages about the need to reduce, reuse and recycle and ensuring that social inclusion remains to the fore.
"Many community sector bodies involved in sustainable waste management have been concerned about funding after the UK Government announced changes to the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme. The funding I am announcing today, to be made available over the next two years, will help reassure them of their continued role.
"This funding builds on the interim funding scheme announced for this financial year, after the changes to the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme. It also builds on the work that the community sector have been doing for a number of years in relation to sustainable waste management".
The £5 million funding will consist of £2.5 million for 2004/2005 and a further £2.5 million for 2005/2006. The Executive will consult community bodies, and other parties, on how the new scheme should operate and what the eligibility criteria for funding should be.
The £5m will be made available from the Barnett formula consequentials received from UK Government as a result of the reform of the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme.
Before its reform, the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme (LTCS) enabled landfill operators to support a wide range of environmental projects by giving them a 90 per cent tax credit against their donations to Environmental Bodies. At January 3, 2003:
• There were 604 Environmental Bodies registered in Scotland,
• 404 of them had received a contribution,
• A total of £51m in contributions (since 1996) had been made,
• £39m of this had been spent,
• Of this, £13m had been spent on waste management
The UK Government announced in Pre-Budget Report 2002 that the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme would be reformed. As a result, waste management projects are no longer eligible for support from the Scheme. The Executive announced in February 2003 that an interim scheme would be set up for 2003/04, to support existing waste management projects.