A spokesman for the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs told letsrecycle.com yesterday: “There are no definite plans to have a third round.”
There was confusion among some councils after the results of the second round of bids were announced on December 4, 2002. Some recycling officers had hoped there might be another chance to bid for a slice of the 140 million fund or further money – especially in view of the forthcoming lifting of the ban on composting catering waste.
Councils keen to take advantage of the lifting of the ban will be forced to comply with stricter – and more expensive – controls on composting this material than they do currently with green waste. Many authorities and composting plant operators had hoped that the government would keep some of the fund by to provide for this need.
But DEFRA did not completely rule out the possibility of more funds to encourage sustainability in the future. The spokesman said: “Something might happen. We will have to see what's in the budget – who knows.”
Click here for a full list of first and second round funding allocations.
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