IWPFund | WRAP UK

27th May 2014

Local businesses, councils, charities and voluntary groups are being called upon to join together to prevent waste. Grants, of up to £50,000, are now available to partnerships with the most innovative¹ ideas.

The £800,000 Innovation in Waste Prevention Fund is open to applications from two or more parties working together, and will support local level creative ideas for preventing waste² of priority materials³. The fund aims to boost voluntary opportunities and provides the potential to create new jobs in your area by promoting the introduction of new services and the adoption of alternative, anti-waste business approaches.

Eligible projects that could be funded, but are not limited to, include:

• Textile or electrical repair skills workshops run by local businesses and voluntary groups.

• Businesses working with local charities to prevent food waste by distributing surplus food to those who need it.

• Councils working with local companies to re-use and repair items that businesses no longer need.

• Businesses working with educational establishments to design products that result in less waste.

• Household goods and furniture re-use initiatives including housing associations, councils and charities.

The Innovation in Waste Prevention Fund is being managed by the UK’s resource efficiency experts, WRAP, with funding from Defra. It aims to support communities across England in their efforts to prevent waste, stimulating long-term changes to business models that encourage items to be kept in use for longer.

Applicants can be from existing partnerships or ones newly formed to access the funding. You simply need to have an innovative idea to prevent waste, and be able to match the funding⁴ you are seeking to secure, either financially or through resource.

Resource Management Minister Dan Rogerson said: “Preventing waste from being produced in the first place is not only good for the environment but helps to build a stronger economy and supports our businesses too.

“This is an excellent example of the work we are supporting and I would urge everyone with innovative ideas to get involved.”

Jude Andrews, WRAP Project Manager, said: “By working together on a local level people can really make an impact on what’s happening in their own community.

“Preventing waste is about finding ways to keep items in use longer and not generating as much waste in the first place. It’s about rethinking the way we do things – redesigning and remanufacturing the things we use – changing attitudes and changing behaviours about what we buy and what we throw away, but most of all, working together and thinking creatively to do something about it.”

The fund will run for two years and grants will be awarded in three phases. Applications for this first phase need to be returned to WRAP by 1 September 2014.

For more information and to download an application pack please visit www.wrap.org.uk/iwp.

You can also join the Twitter conversation @Wrap_UK #WasteInnovate.

Ends

Notes to editors

1 - Innovative: The grant will be applied to a project that is innovative to the members of the community partnership applying. It would not include, for example, an organisation extending current services.

2 - Waste prevention: Actions taken to avoid something becoming waste, for example, actions that reduce the quantity of waste produced, including the extension of product life through design, repair or re-use.

3 - Priority materials: The Fund will prioritise projects that focus on the priority materials outlined in Defra’s Waste Prevention Programme for England: food, textiles, furniture and bulky material, electronic and electrical equipment, plastics, paper and board, construction and demolition, healthcare and chemicals.

4- Match-funding: Applications should be able to demonstrate match-funding to projects at least equivalent to the amount of funding applied for, whether this is their own funding, staff time or other. Match funding must be in place before the award can be granted.

Initiatives not supported by the fund: Recycling or composting will not be eligible for funding. For example, food waste collections, home composting, food macerators and food waste digesters.

This fund can help a…

· Business: save money by exploring new ways of doing business, develop long term working relationships with your community, give back to your community by sharing skills and creating jobs or volunteering opportunities.

· Council: save on waste disposal costs, increase local re-use rates, help expand local employment opportunities, and develop relationships with local businesses, organisations and groups.

· Voluntary group or social enterprise: raise profile and increase network and memberships.

· Charity: raise more money by generating more items for resale.

About WRAP – WRAP’s vision is a world where resources are used sustainably. It works in partnership to help businesses, individuals and communities improve resource efficiency. Established as a not-for-profit company in 2000, WRAP is backed by government funding from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

WRAP is the organisation that brings you the consumer campaigns to help save money and reduce food waste - Love Food Hate Waste, recycle more - Recycle Now and keep clothes in use for longer - Love Your Clothes.

· www.wrap.org.uk

· Follow us on Twitter at @Wrap_UK

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