The National Lottery funded programme known as Transforming Waste will be handled through the New Opportunities Fund, and newly selected award partner – charity, the Royal Society for Nature Conservation.
The RSNC has been working with “specialist expertise” in preparing the bid on a consortium basis. Final details of the grouping are to be released in the New Year when the programme will be launched. The Community Recycling Network had originally hoped to be the fund distributor for the project. However, the organisation is now a member of the consortium, other members are: The Community Composting Network, Create UK, the Environment Agency, the Furniture Recycling Network, local authority recycling officers group LARAC, London Community Recycling Network and the Wastewatch.
Experience
The RSNC has experience in running body applications within the waste sector and already handles applications on behalf of Biffaward environmental.
The project is scheduled to launch in 2003 and will fund projects that are led by community-sector organisations such as charities, worker-owned cooperatives, and not-for-profit community based groups.
Individual local projects on Transforming Waste that apply for funding under this grant scheme must, according to the NOP, “set out to expand community sector waste re-use, recycling or composting and show that they will promote the key aims of local waste strategies and help local authorities meet with their recycling targets.”
The Transforming Waste programme is part of a larger initiative, Transforming Communities, that is bringing 149 million of National Lottery money to environmental projects throughout the UK.
In Wales, the award partner selected for Transforming Waste will be Wales Council for Voluntary Action. The council will be awarded 2.95 million over the three-year life of the programme.
In Northern Ireland, Transforming Waste will receive 2.25million and Scotland will receive 5.25million, although award partners are yet to be announced.
Chief executive of the NOP, Stephen Dunmore said he was pleased that RSNC had been selected as its new award partner. “The RSNC is well-placed to effect change in waste management and improve quality of life.
Michael Singh, executive director of RSNC said the organisation recognised the importance of the “Community waste sector’s contribution to achieving government waste strategy targets.”
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