The scheme, which was announced in the Waste Review in June 2011 (see letsrecycle.com story) is intended to support waste prevention, food waste reduction and reuse and recycling.
It is designed to help organisations reward people or communities for positive recycling and reuse behaviour and can include vouchers, donations to charity or discounts on goods and services. Recognition could include personalised feedback on individual household recycling rates or information of how the item donated for reuse has benefited the community.
The deadline for applications is June 11 2012 and if demand and the quality of the applications is high enough, a third round of funding may be offered next year.
Ideas
The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said funding will only be allocated to genuinely innovative projects.
A spokesperson for Defra said: There isnt a one-size-fits-all solution to how we deal with our waste. Cutting down or designing out waste, recycling more or putting items people no longer want to good use makes business sense, saves money and protects the environment.
Many people have new ideas about what would work in their communities. We want to see local innovators step forward and use this funding to test different ways of doing things to make zero-waste a reality.
Projects
In the 2011/12 funding round money was awarded to 16 councils and community organisations for various projects. They won a share of the 500,000 pot for that year and additionally 14 of the projects were awarded 347,000 from the 2012/13 pot, which originally stood at 1 million. This leaves 650,000 available for new applicants in 2012/13.
The West London Waste Authority (WLWA) which handles waste on behalf of the seven West London boroughs of Brent, Ealing, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow and Richmond upon Thames received the most funding, amounting to 133,532 over a two year period.
The WLWA plans offer financial rewards to householders who reuse old furniture, buy items from charity shops and use businesses that reuse throughout the year. The project started with a trial in Brent and Richmond this month (April 2012) and if successful could be rolled out across the whole WLWA (see letsrecycle.com story).
Other projects to receive funding last year included: Birmingham city councils Nectar points scheme (see letsrecycle.com story); the National Union of Students for a community reward scheme in halls of residence at selective universities; and, Housing 21, a non-profit care provider for older people which works with 240 local authorities nationwide, which planned to provide recycling facilities to deprived and high occupancy dwellings in Sussex and Hampshire.
As well as funding the projects Defra has also commissioned research into how reward or recognition schemes have worked in various situations and how people respond to them. It aims to establish which types of rewards are likely to provide the best value for money and will help local authorities and other organisations target their schemes most effectively.
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