UK – local authorities invited to bid for £135m on waste minimisation and recycling

The UK Government’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has invited local authorities to bid for £135m of funding that has been provided for waste minimisation and recycling work over the next two years.



This is the latest tranche of funding being made available on a challenge fund basis which is additional to the mainstream funding that Government provides to support waste management work in local authorities – #114m was made available in 2003-04.



The funding has been provided ahead of a previously announced move from a challenge fund to a grant that will be related to local authority performance. When inviting applications, Defra has signalled a simplification of the previous approach to challenge funding with no specific focus on poor performing local authorities.



Defra has also announced an enhanced approach to partnership working, encouraging those authorities that handle large volumes of waste to work with each other and with Government to make best use of funding.



All local authorities will have a chance to bid for up to £1.5m each for particular projects. Those dealing with large volumes of waste are being encouraged to apply for funding of up to £5m that will be managed on a programme management basis to secure best value. A range of support, analysis and assessment work to compliment the funding and help local authorities deliver the best waste minimisation and recycling services is also being provided under the Government’s Waste Implementation Programme.