A GREEN team has been awarded a grant of £68,000 towards a special project on waste management and recycling.

The award for Groundwork St Helens, Knowsley and Sefton agreed by the Objective 1 Technical Panel for Industrial Development, will go towards a total cost of £173,100 (the remaining balance of which will come from SRB, private sector and Business Link St Helens) for the Business Environmental Performance Improvement, Southern Corridor Project.

And it will enable Groundwork to advise around 100 small local businesses on waste management and recycling schemes.

Groundwork expects to introduce some 70 recycling schemes, enabling the firms concerned to reduce their landfill waste by 2.5 per cent. It's estimated that companies undertaking a Groundwork review should cut costs by £9,000 on average, as well as improving environmental performance.

Stephen Sykes, Environmental Business Services Manager at Groundwork St Helens, Knowsley and Sefton, said: "We are delighted to have received the award and are looking forward to getting the project off the ground. We are hoping to provide a free phone helpline for businesses to answer various questions on waste and recyling including environmental health legislation and we will be able to give contacts for waste disposal and recycling.

"As well as the phone line, we will also be holding quarterly seminars with various themes and we will be doing environmental health checks for businesses which are interested."

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