August 2008: Trustees and members of Diseworth Heritage Trust are delighted to receive a £30,000 Biffaward grant towards the refurbishment of the Diseworth Heritage Centre. Biffaward, a multi-million pound environment fund is managed by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts which uses landfill tax credits donated by Biffa Waste Services.   The Heritage Centre will house a museum and exhibition hall, a coffee shop and drop-in centre, and an IT suite will serve principally residents of Long Whatton and Diseworth, the two villages in the parish. Already plans are underfoot for a grand opening week, featuring exhibitions from both local schools as well as displays portraying the history of the two villages.   The aim of the Heritage Centre is to foster the local environment, heritage, educational and conservational interests of Diseworth and Long Whatton and the surrounding villages and the Biffaward grant will be used in the restoration of the Grade 11 listed chapel which was purchased from the Baptist Union by the Diseworth Heritage Trust.  

Nikki Hening, Chair of Management Group for the Trust, said ‘It is fitting that in these days of acknowledgement of the value of recycling and waste management, the Heritage Centre has benefited from Biffa Limited, one of the largest suppliers of waste management services in the UK. Further details may be obtained from www.biffaward.org  

For more information, contact Biffaward’s PR Team on 01636 670083 or e-mail media@rswt.org.   

More about Biffawards:

In 1997 Biffa Waste Services agreed to donate landfill tax credits to the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT) to administer under the fund name Biffaward. Grants made from the fund currently amount to over £90 million, supporting many worthwhile projects. Biffa Waste Services Limited is a part of the Biffa Limited Group of Companies.  Biffa Limited is owned by Waste Acquisition Co Ltd, an entity formed by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), Montagu Private Equity & UCIL (Uberior Co-Investments Limited). Biffa Limited is one of the largest single suppliers of waste management services in the UK. It collects, treats, recovers and disposes of municipal, commercial and industrial waste nationwide. The landfill tax came into operation in 1996.  Its purpose is to reflect the impact of landfill on the environment and also to help achieve the targets for more sustainable waste management.  The tax, levied on the tonnage of all material disposed of in landfill sites and collected by Biffa on behalf of HM Revenue and Customs, aims to encourage recycling and reduce waste by raising the cost of disposal. The regulations allow landfill site operators to direct approximately 6% of the tax they have collected towards approved environmental projects. However, any approved project can only receive 90% of its desired funding from the landfill tax. The remainder must come direct from the landfill site operator or from a third party organisation or company.