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Advantage West Midlands programme

Funding and delivering Solutions for Business products and services WRAP and AWM (Advantage West Midlands) are working in partnership to develop the commercial and industrial waste recycling sector in the West Midlands.

The WRAP AWM Programme gives recycling businesses in the region an opportunity to benefit from funding and practical support.

Due to reduced Government funding for Regional Development Agencies, including Advantage West Midlands, all new grant funding and business development support on the WRAP AWM programme has been suspended until further notice.
We will not be accepting new applications at this time.
For information on other support provided by WRAP, please visit our home page or contact our helpline on 0808 100 2040.

What is the WRAP AWM Programme?

The programme is an exclusive package of support worth £5.4 million, including grants, practical advice and business development services.

Delivered by WRAP on behalf of AWM, the Programme has been designed to increase the capacity and scope of recycling services dealing with commercial and industrial (C&I) waste.

How will the WRAP AWM Programme help recycling businesses?

Businesses can benefit from the programme in two ways.

Firms can apply to the programme for grant funding to help pay for new or expanded waste processing capacity.
Recycling businesses can also take advantage of the practical help and advice offered through the programme’s business development services. This includes assistance in areas such as marketing and sales, operations, management support and innovation.

Is my company eligible for support?

There are a number of criteria that need to be fulfilled for a company to be eligible for grant funding and/or business development services under the WRAP AWM Programme. For example, businesses must be operating in the West Midlands region and diverting regional C&I waste from landfill.

Those eligible for support include collectors of materials for recycling and businesses that reprocess recovered materials. Manufacturers that use recycled content may also be eligible for support if they are developing a new process, or are focused on improving quality which involves further processing.

Click below to read more detail on eligibility.

Detailed eligibility criteria
- The business must be operating in (or a start-up business planning to operate in) the West Midlands and diverting commercial and industrial (C&I) waste from landfill.
- The support is for recycling/ reprocessing businesses (i.e. companies taking a waste material and applying some action/added value to it, e.g. shredding sorting, composting).
- There is a particular focus on mixed plastics, low-grade wood, paper and card, food waste and small business waste collection services, preferably involving source segregation.
- Other materials which will be considered are textiles, carpets and metals (for metals some innovation will need to be demonstrated as this is a healthy sector already in the West Midlands).
- Construction and Demolition waste is not in scope.
- Collections only businesses will be included as long as the material being collected is going for recycling and the project will be providing additional capacity, not simply taking market share from existing suppliers.
- Manufacturers using recycled content may also be considered if they are developing a new process or are focused on improving quality, which involves further processing
- There will be a focus on Small or Medium sized Enterprises (companies with less than 250 staff and either a turnover of less than £37 mil or tangible net worth of less than £31.8 mil), but larger businesses will also be eligible as long as they can prove that their planned expansion of recycling/ reprocessing activities will be accelerated through assistance.
- Refurbishment/ reuse may be included as can waste which is not post-use, i.e. abattoir waste, off-cuts from manufacturing, saw-mill waste and packaging waste from a packaging producer.
- No limits will be put on the smallest tonnages processed, but companies will have to be commercially viable to receive support.