£24 MILLION FUNDING PACKAGE FOR NEW TECHNOLOGY TO MAKE CAPITAL'S WASTE DISPOSAL GREENER

The Mayor of London and the London Development Agency (LDA) today announced a £24 million waste and recycling programme to support the development of infrastructure to manage London's commercial and industrial waste over the next four years. The programme will help to tackle climate change by reducing the amount of London's waste being buried in landfill and burnt in incinerators.
To take forward this programme, the Mayor will, this summer, appoint a panel of waste, energy and financial experts to deliver innovative, efficient waste and recycling facilities appropriate for London including those which use waste to create renewable energy and increase the capital's recycling reprocessing capacity, whilst reducing reliance on landfill, boosting the local economy and reducing the transport impacts of waste. Companies could be invited before the panel to bid for funding in a 'Dragon's Den' style. The Mayor will also work with relevant organisations, including the C40 Climate Leadership Group, the Clinton Climate Initiative, and the London Climate Change Agency to develop sustainable approaches for the business waste sector.
The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, said:

'There are real opportunities in London to develop technologies that treat waste as a resource, rather than relying on outdated waste disposal methods which contribute to climate change. London's businesses and boroughs are currently choosing to bury and burn the capital's waste - dumping it in the Home Counties - whilst recycling rates lag behind the rest of the UK. This funding package of £24 million from the London Development Agency will accelerate the use of cleaner, greener recycling and treatment methods that are already being effectively used in Europe.'
Manny Lewis, Chief Executive of the London Development Agency, said:

'London is a thriving city that produces a vast amount of waste, particularly from the commercial and industrial sector. And as London continues to grow, so does its waste. It simply isn't viable to continue to send all that waste to landfill - and we're currently missing out on the possibilities waste has to offer as a resource. This programme shows that addressing climate change and making better use of waste as a resource are at the very heart of the LDA's investment strategy. It demonstrates that managing business waste sustainably is an ongoing priority for this Agency.'
The programme will to contribute to meeting the target in the Mayor's Climate Change Action Plan to cut London's CO₂ emissions by 60 per cent by 2025. The Action Plan expects that using waste to generate energy will contribute to saving as much as 1.1 million tonnes of CO₂ each year. Nearly 7 million tonnes of commercial and industrial waste is currently produced in London each year, which is nearly double the amount that London's households produce. Less than half of the commercial and industrial waste is recycled and the remainder is primarily disposed of to landfill, where it breaks down to produce CO₂ and methane, a potent greenhouse gas. The Mayor's London Plan sets ambitious targets to recycle or compost 70 per cent of London's commercial and industrial waste, and to manage 85 per cent of it in London by 2020 rather than sending it to landfill in the Home Counties.
The programme, identified as a key proposal in the Mayor's draft business waste strategy, is expected to lever in significant additional investment from both the private and public sectors. The Mayor and the LDA are currently determining the criteria against which the programme will operate and the LDA is consulting stakeholders, including the waste and energy sectors, on the programme criteria.