The grant, which has been designated for the period October 2015 to March 2018, represents a ‘significant’ increase on the equivalent £2.7 million received by the Welsh Government for 2014/15, the charity says.
The money is aimed at increasing the profile of the Waste & Resources Action Programme in Wales – expanding on the 107 new jobs, £62 million cost savings and sales growth of £22 million delivered under its core programme in 2014/15.
However, the grant does not include financing for the charity’s work with local authorities that are struggling to meet the ambitious recycling targets set by the Welsh Government. Schemes such as the Collaborative Change Programme and the Resource Efficient Wales business and public sector client manager services will not benefit from the fund.
The grant is a large chunk of the Welsh Government’s £22 million funding for environment and sustainable development organisations in Wales, which has also seen some money designated to Keep Wales Tidy.
Welcoming the funding, WRAP chief executive Liz Goodwin said WRAP Cymru would have a ‘central role’ to play in creating the circular economy and explained a clarification of its plans would be unveiled at the charity’s Cardiff conference in October.
She said: “We are delighted by the Welsh Government’s announcement of future funding for WRAP Cymru and look forward to continuing to work with the Natural Resources Minister on his green growth agenda.”
Innovation
The Welsh funding follows WRAP’s announcement that six of 66 applicants are to receive financing under the second round of the Innovation in Waste Prevention Fund in England last week (June 24).
The £800,000 grant scheme, which was launched in May 2014, is backed by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and involves three tranches of funding for ‘innovative’ waste prevention ideas – with a third and final round to be announced this summer.
Resource minister Rory Stewart was on hand at WRAP’s Resourcing the Future conference to congratulate the successful bidders.
He said: “Ranging from an initiative to help primary schools set up pupil-run clothing exchange shops to a project aiming to redistribute food from events in the South West, including Glastonbury, describing these as truly innovative ideas that can help local communities to prevent waste.”
The six winners are:
Bicester Green
Create UK Ltd
Fareshare South West
Garage Sale Trail Foundation
Keep Britain Tidy
Re-considered Ltd
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