Twenty-six projects have received the money under the Investment in Community Recycling and Social Enterprise (INCREASE III) programme, which will provide £7.5 million over the next three years to community groups.
I welcome these innovative solutions put forward by communities which are pushing back the boundaries in preventing and reducing waste
Richard Lochhead, Scottish environment secretary
The fund aims to help with projects such as the development of facilities for repairing furniture and white goods, collecting and reprocessing non-hazardous paints, providing waste food collections for businesses and gathering waste wood from businesses and households.
Speaking at the Bike Station in Edinburgh, which received £133,000 for its ‘Recycle to Cycle' project for salvaging bike parts from landfill to construct new ones, Mr Lochhead welcomed the allocation and praised the community sector's innovation in reuse and recycling.
He said: “Dealing with waste sustainably is crucial to the future of Scotland and the future of the planet. The community sector continues to play an invaluable role in helping us meet our ambitious target of recycling 70% of municipal waste by 2025.”
“This is why the Scottish Government is today allocating £3.5 million to community led projects. I welcome these innovative solutions put forward by communities which are pushing back the boundaries in preventing and reducing waste,” he added.
Mr Lochhead also pointed to the role the money would play in helping to realise the Scottish Government's ambition of Zero Waste, commenting: “Everyone must play their part in reducing waste, and only by all working together in this way will we be able to achieve a Zero Waste Scotland.”
Funding
Announced in March of this year, the Increase III funding scheme builds on two previous Increase programmes that ran from 2004-2008. It is distributed by the Waste & Resource Action Programme (WRAP) Scotland with help from the Community Recycling Network Scotland (CRNS).
Neil Lovelock, network manager for the CRNS, told letsrecycle.com: “CRNS is delighted that 26 organisations are going to receive Increase III funding, it is good with geographical spread and the range of activities. The sector is going from strength-to-strength.”
Praising the move, Mr Lovelock said that the devolving of power to local councils through the historic concordant between the Scottish Government and the Council of Scottish Local Authorities means the money could be used in “innovative” local projects identified by local authorities rather than as simply funding handed down from above.
Iain Gulland, WRAP Director for Scotland, said: “I am pleased to see so many excellent projects coming forward from the community recycling sector for this funding. The enterprise projects in particular demonstrate the business-minded approach the sector is taking, seeing this funding as an investment in their future.”
“Community recycling providing a robust business model which builds a solid future in terms of local jobs and environmental sustainability is a key part in delivering a Zero Waste Scotland,” he added.
Strands
The INCREASE III funding has been delivered in four funding strands dependent on the investment type being sought, with both Increase Prevention and Increase Enterprise offering between £5,000 and £300,000 for waste prevention or innovative initiatives and Increase Small offering up to £5,000 for organisations with a turnover less than £100,000.
The fourth strand, Increase Capacity, which is intended to help with employing staff, is not yet live but is it is believed that it will start accepting applications “imminently”, according to Mr Lovelock.
Community groups apply to the relevant funding strand in a bid to receive some of the allocation, which is then decided on in panel rounds, with the £3.5 million funding decided over two panel rounds. It is expected that there will be three more panel rounds before the 2011 deadline, but it is dependent on interest from the sector and the quality of bids.
Further funding is likely to be allocated over the next four to six months, with the remaining £4 million of the investment fund due to be distributed to the community sector by 2011.
Awarded
The largest amount of funding went to the Ross-shire Waste Action Network was given £299,543 towards public waste awareness projects throughout the Highlands, while the Wise Group was awarded £299,065 for waste awareness projects in Glasgow.
The Glasgow Furniture Initiative was awarded £225,000; RePaint Scotland received £299,503 towards paint reuse schemes; and the Golspie Recycling and Environmental Action Network received £242, 063 for the expansion of recycling services into new materials and businesses.
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