Liberal Democrat Councillor John Cameron has condemned the decision of the Labour government to slash funding for the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), which promotes recycling, by 30%.
Funding for other environmental organizations, such as British Waterways and Keep Britain Tidy, has also been cut by the Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs.
Councillor Cameron, who represents the Burnage Ward, said:
"Climate change and the lack of landfill sites make it crucial that we recycle as much of our waste as possible. WRAP have provided funding in the past for various schemes to promote recycling across the UK, including Manchester. It is crazy for the government to slash funding for this at a time when they are hiking up landfill taxes on local authorities year on year."
"Yet again Labour are talking about taking the environment seriously, while their actions show that the opposite is true."
ENDS
Notes to editors:
DEFRA has announced a 30% cut in funding for the Waste and Resources Action Programme, from £59m to £43.2m.
British Waterways has its funding cut from £48.5m to £34.1m.
Natural England, which looks after conservation and wildlife, faces a £5m reduction to £176m.
Encams, which runs the Keep Britain Tidy campaign, has had its budget frozen.
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