Member Article

Landfill grants help community projects

Grants totalling over £500,000 were distributed to over 50 environmental and community projects close to a Cumbrian waste company’s landfill sites over the last 12 months.

An activity barn for Scouts, a village playing field and park and a Roman-themed museum garden were just some of the projects that benefited from grants provided by Cumbria Waste Management Environment Trust (CWMET) in 2013/14.

CWMET, a charitable-run environmental body, distributes funds generated through the landfill operations of Cumbria Waste Group, the largest waste management and recycling company in Cumbria.

The grants, which ranged from £900 to £60,000, also helped to refurbish several village halls and create various nature reserves across the county. Examples of just a few of the schemes awarded grants were:

Ratlingate Activity Barn – a grant of £60,000 was awarded to the Reivers District Scouts to build an open-sided Dutch barn that bridges the gap between indoor and outdoor activities at the Ratlingate camp site. The barn has a cooking/dining area, space for indoor games and a low level bouldering wall.

Cumwhitton Community Park Project – a grant of £10,000 was awarded to help build a community play park and playing field in Cumwhitton village. It includes play facilities, picnic area, garden area and a cycle path.

Tullie House Roman Garden – The Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery was awarded £10,000 towards the creation of a Roman-themed garden which provides a historic reference for visitors and serves as an outdoor area for activities and events.

Peter Hughes, Scout Leader and Ratlingate Booking Secretary, said: “The grant we received has allowed us to provide a tremendous mixed use, all weather facility.

“Every single user has commented on how great it is and it has become a fantastic asset for us.”

Mike Bareham, Managing Director of Cumbria Waste Group, said: “We are delighted to see that so many different and worthwhile projects have been able to benefit from grants over the last 12 months.

“The grants are available to any community and environmental projects within a ten-mile radius of our fee paying landfill sites at Flusco in Penrith and Hespin Wood in Carlisle, and new applications are always welcomed.”

Money for the grants is generated through the Landfill Communities Fund which enables the operators of landfill sites to work with environmental bodies on projects that create significant environmental benefits, jobs and which improve the lives of communities living near landfill sites.

To encourage landfill operators to re-use, recycle, recover more value from waste and use more environmentally friendly methods of waste disposal, Landfill Tax is charged on each tonne of waste sent to landfill. The operators are then able to redirect a small proportion of their landfill tax liability to support local projects. Since the inception of the Landfill Communities Fund in 1996, over £1 billion has been spent on more than 32,000 projects across the UK. For further information, please visit www.entrust.org.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Neil Shaefer .