The fund, which will have a further 1.65 million available in future rounds, was set up to encourage partnership projects between local authorities and the community sector in Wales.
It is managed by the Wales Council for Voluntary Action and Cylch, the Wales Community Recycling Network in partnership with the Welsh Local Government Association and the Environment Agency Wales.
The five successful projects, which have also raised 5.3 million in match funding, are as follows:
| Newport (Wastesavers) | 296,661 | 565,611 | 862,272 |
| Ceredigion (CRAFT) | 285,770 | 3,501,457 | 3,787,227 |
| Conwy (Crest) | 98,684 | 274,905 | 373,589 |
| Torfaen (Torfaen Community Recycling) | 255,500 | 346,375 | 601,875 |
| Monmouth (The Garnsychan Partnership) | 99,097 | 667,316 | 766,413 |
The Cleanstream funding will allow Newport Wastesavers and Newport city council to develop a new resource centre. The South Wales council is one of five in Wales to be designated an Exemplar Authority, given extra funding in return for achieving higher recycling targets. Newport must reach a 50% recycling and composting rate by 2005-06.
The funding comes on top of the 22 million announced last week by the Welsh Assembly to promote local authority and community sector partnerships (see letsrecycle.com story). Newport Wastesavers said they intend to apply for some of this money to extend kerbside collection services they run in the city.
Newport Wastesavers general manager Mike Croxford said: “Newport currently has one of the top recycling rates in Wales at 17%, and with this additional funding we aim to work with the council to achieve 50% within three years, making Newport one of the cleanest, greenest cities in Wales.”
Cllr Graham Dally, cabinet member for transport and sustainable development for Newport city council said: “Newport is leading the way with recycling and composting initiatives and we are delighted that we will now be able to extend and improve our services. The council and Newport Wastesavers are working hard to make recycling and composting as easy as possible for residents and this funding will bring up closer to achieving our targets.”
Other Cleanstream funding went to Crest Community Recycling, based in North Wales, Ceredigion Recycling and Furniture Team (CRAFT) in West Wales, Torfaen Community Recycling and the Garnsychan Partnership in South Wales. These groups will be putting the money towards composting and furniture re-use projects.
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