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London’s Waste and Recycling Board welcomes huge response to funding call

Filed under: Government News  Reduce, Reuse & Recycle 

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson, Chair of the London Waste and Recycling Board, has welcomed the massive response to the Board's call for innovative ideas to boost recycling and cut landfill waste. 

The Board confirmed that 142 proposals (or ‘Expressions of Interest’) have been submitted asking for its support, with a real emphasis on innovation covering a wide range of technologies and eco-friendly waste solutions. This included proposals which would divert London's waste from landfill towards composting, recycling, gasification and anaerobic digestion (processes using waste to produce a biogas that can be used to generate electricity and heat).

The call for proposals has enabled the Board to understand the scale of opportunity and conduct preliminary analysis on how it can most effectively spend its money and lend its expertise, to boost recycling and help the capital deal with its waste in a more environmentally friendly way. It is clear from this exercise that there is a huge potential within London and the waste industry, to deliver new ways to manage a very significant portion of London's annual 21 million tonnes of waste – although the Board has finite funds to take forward all these proposals, in total they could tackle approximately 9 million tonnes of waste.

The Board agreed the framework to decide which proposals will benefit from a portion of its £84million funding pot. Submitted proposals which meet the set criteria will be invited to develop into more detailed business cases for the Board to consider. The Board agreed to ring fence £2million to be made available for smaller value projects, including local community-led, grassroots schemes, some of which will benefit from a fast-track funding route to start delivering results as quickly as possible.  

The Mayor said: 'The Board has worked quickly to establish how best to help London to boost recycling and slash the amount of rubbish ending up in landfill. We have been hugely encouraged by the massive response to our call for new ideas,  which has demonstrated a wide range of exciting and innovative ways through which the Board can focus its resources to make big changes to waste management in the capital. I am particularly pleased that the Board has agreed today not only to fund large commercial projects, but also smaller schemes, which will help communities with great ideas on how to tackle their waste locally, to get our support to do so.’ 

The Board also agreed it will negotiate to secure an additional £18million of European Commission/European Investment Bank funding* for waste infrastructure development in the capital – this requires the Board to commit match-funding of £18million. The funds would be used in  tandem with Board’s fund to develop low carbon infrastructure to manage waste, such as turning waste to energy. 

The Board will focus its efforts in areas where it could have the most impact - recycling and capturing and treating waste to create energy. The Board has previously agreed it will concentrate on recycling of priority material such as plastic and extracting energy from food waste and from waste wood. We calculate that the total energy that can be supplied by waste is £504 million or 10 per cent of London's gas and electricity bill. The Board is keen to work with waste producers, processors and end users of waste. For example it would work with supermarkets, restaurants and households producing food waste, owners of Anaerobic Digestion plants which will get the energy from the waste and vehicle fleets which might take the fuel.

·       *The Board will take forward negotiations for funds through the JESSICA scheme, which stands for ‘Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas’. It is an initiative being developed by the European Commission and the European Investment Bank in collaboration with the Council of Europe Development Bank.

·       For more on the Board and its roles and responsibilities go to www.lwarb.gov.uk
·       The Mayor announced in May 2008 that he would Chair the Board, which was originally given a proposed budget of £60 million, but as part of the new working relationship with London's boroughs, the Mayor has also committed to directing up to £24 million of London Development Agency funds to complement the work of the Board.

·       London's 33 boroughs remain statutorily responsible for the collection and disposal of waste in the capital.  The London Waste and Recycling Board was announced in 2006, with the aim of bringing together all those involved in managing the capital's waste.

·       For more information on the Board’s consumer campaign, Recycle for London, go to www.recycleforlondon.com
·       Board members in addition to the Mayor:
                - Peter Jones OBE
                - Councillor David Williams, Leader, London Borough of Merton
                - Councillor Daniel Moylan, Deputy Leader, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and Chairman of London Councils Transport and Environment Committee
                - Councillor Clyde Loakes, Leader, London Borough of Waltham Forest
                - Councillor Colin Hall, Deputy Leader, London Borough of Sutton, and Vice Chairman of London Councils Transport and Environment Committee
                -  Peter Calliafas
                -  Valerie Owen OBE

For media enquiries please call the Mayor’s Press Office on 020 7983 4070. Numbers not for publication.

For out of hours media enquiries please call 020 7983 4000.
For non-media enquiries please call the Public Liaison Unit on 020 7983 4100.

Hilary Merrett
Environment Desk
Mayor of London's Press Office
T: 020 7983 4755
M: 07747 766673
F: 020 7983 4062

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