Waste Board sets up 'dating agency' to help manage London's rubbish and boost recycling

A waste 'dating agency' is being set up by the London Waste and Recycling Board to deal with the 21 million tonnes of rubbish produced in London each year.

The new brokerage service will link up waste producers with site owners, London boroughs and energy users and aims to provide new sites for reuse, recycling and energy from waste facilities.

Staffed and funded by the Board and using its oversight of the waste industry in London, it will provide expertise, funds and contacts to help develop waste projects to meet the Board's priorities.

The Board was set up in July last year and has now agreed its first business plan with a budget of £37m committed over the coming year.

The Mayor of London and Chair of the London Waste and Recycling Board, Boris Johnson said:

'This fantastic waste 'dating agency' will be vital for anyone who has a great idea for getting energy from our waste or recycling our rubbish - they won't have to wade through endless bureaucracy but can get the expertise and help they need. It will certainly make life easier for innovators with bright new ideas for dealing with recycling and waste to invest in London.'

Councillor Daniel Moylan, a member of the Board and deputy leader of Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea said: ‘This sort of strategic planning is exactly why London Councils proposed the creation of the London Waste and Recycling Board. The Board's role is to make things work better - to look at existing good work, to support innovative solutions, and by bringing these two elements together, to improve waste management across the capital. This is exactly what these priorities will deliver and I am delighted at the direction being taken by the Board.’

The Board is asking for expressions of interest from businesses by 1st April; anyone interested should contact info@lwarb.gov.uk. The Board would be 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 also made clear that it would focus its efforts in areas where it could have the most impact and this is on 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 agreed at its first meeting to fund the Recycle for London campaign. The latest stage of this campaign, which is the largest yet was launched this week featuring TV advertising for the first time, in addition to radio, press and bus and Tube posters.  As part of this a new mobile phone game has been designed to urge people to recycle and since the launch on Monday over nearly 1,000 people have downloaded the game.

Notes to Editors

• For more on the Board and its roles and responsibilities go to www.lwarb.gov.uk.

• The Mayor announced in May 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. The £37m committed today to campaign and infrastructure projects is from this £84 million pot.

• 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 by the Government in 2006, with the aim of bringing together all those involved in managing the capital's waste.

• Board members in addition to the Mayor are:
  - 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 further information please contact Nicola Dillon on 020 7983 4066 or Hilary Merrett on 020 7983 4755 in the Mayor's Press Office, or Chris Hogwood London Councils on 020 7934 9757 (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.