For its fifth anniversary, the fund has expanded its criteria to include social projects as well as environmental, with one standout project set to receive a ‘bumper grant’ of £5,000.
A number of garden parties have been held around the country to celebrate the launch, hosted by previous beneficiaries of the Sustainability Fund, connected community groups and changemakers.
Previously successful projects that are delivering long-term social and environmental benefits to local communities include:
- St Albans Civic Rose Garden Regeneration which revitalised the Civic Rose Garden to enhance its natural beauty and increase biodiversity
- Birmingham’s Fruit and Nut Village is a local, volunteer-run network of ‘Forest Gardens’, made up of nearly 70 orchards across the city. The funding will be channelled into compost, tools and plants to transform more sites.
- Haringey’s Friends of Hartington Park and Carbuncle Passage who are transforming Carbuncle Passage into a thriving biodiverse nature corridor
- Sutton’s Ruskin Road Repair Cafe which helps residents repair broken household appliances to save both money and valuable resources
- Grovelands School in East Sussex which extended their farm by installing a new shed to keep outdoor learning equipment safe
Veolia’s Sustainability Fund is open to not-for-profit organisations, community groups and individuals in areas where the company delivers recycling and waste services for communities. Applicants can request funding of up to £1,000 per project as well as in-kind resources and volunteers.
The bumper grant will recognise an application that promises “remarkable long-term community impact”.
The environmental projects need to meet at least one of the following criteria:
- enhances biodiversity
- promotes sustainable behaviours through reduce, reuse and recycle initiatives
- protects the environment by using recycled, reused or reclaimed materials.
And new for 2025, the Sustainability Fund’s broader focus on social projects now welcomes initiatives that strengthen the local community, including but not limited to: employment support programmes, rehabilitation projects and youth development initiatives.
Applications can be made via Veolia’s website at veolia.co.uk/Sustainability-Fund. The fund will be open for applications until 30 September 2025.
Pascal Hauret, managing director, municipal at Veolia, said: “Since the launch of the Sustainability Fund, we have funded 425 incredible projects with over £300,000 in the areas where we deliver essential recycling and waste services on behalf of our local authority partners.”
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