A waste management company has provided a huge cash boost for projects to improve Oxfordshire's environment.

The latest decision by Hanson Waste Management Company to donate £250,000 to the Trust for Oxfordshire's Environment (Toe) has brought the total to £1m.

Hanson, based at Sutton Courtenay, near Abingdon, disposes of tonnes of household and business waste throughout the county each year.

Directors set up the Hanson Environment Fund to make use of tax credits offered by the Government, where 20 per cent of tax on landfill sites can be redirected to environment-improving projects.

The cash, intended to encourage sustainable waste management, better access to the countryside and a wide range of community activities all over Oxfordshire, has been spread between more than 80 projects throughout the county.

Beneficiaries included Leafield's project to create a Millennium Wood. Villagers and schoolchildren grew seedlings and planted more than 1,000 new trees to create the wood and were awarded £10,000 to maintain it for the future.

An award of £50,000 helped restore Tooley's Boatyard for Banbury Museum.

Dozens of similar schemes have won cash from the Trust, which distributes the money Hanson donates.

Tim Horton, Trust chairman, said: "All our work has led to a new partnership between the waste industry, environment groups and the hundreds of settlements in the county which are drawn together to ensure a better future.

"I welcome the continued commitment of landfill tax money to Toe. This is great news for Oxfordshire's environment.

"Our success is best shown through the projects we have sponsored. These are the product of imagination, community zeal and hard work. It is thrilling to see the list of beneficiaries grow."