Community Funding - In partnership with Veolia

Community Funding - In partnership with Veolia

£165,000 fund launched to help community groups reduce, reuse and recycle

 

A share of £165,000 is up for grabs to help community groups make the Liverpool City Region a cleaner and greener place.

 

The funding - made available via the Merseyside Recycling & Waste Authority and Veolia Community Fund 2023/24 – is for community and voluntary groups, schools and not-for-profit organisations, who can reduce household waste, encourage recycling and resource reuse and prevent carbon emissions.

 

There is up to £30,000 for projects which cover a minimum of three City Region districts, and between £1000 and £8,000 available for projects which work solely at one local authority level.

 

Chairperson of Merseyside Recycling & Waste Authority (MRWA), Councillor Tony Concepcion, said: “Giving groups the opportunity to get involved in looking after their environment brings benefits to all and can help us appreciate items as valuable resources rather than something which otherwise might be just thrown away.

 

"We've seen that previous projects have continued to deliver benefits beyond the first year, through their legacy and ongoing impact on behavioural change, and in many cases through new or continuing activities.”

 

Bids must tackle one or more of the four priority household waste materials which have been identified by MRWA as key, namely WEEE (Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment), Food, Textiles and Furniture. An analysis* of waste in the region highlighted that a greater amount of these materials could be re-used or recycled. Projects can also include other household waste materials, for example paper, plastic or metals.

 

Previous Community Fund projects have included local recycling guidebooks, cookery clubs to support healthy eating and reduce food waste, fruit and veg gleaning, restoring old furniture to sell for charity and refurbishing unwanted rugs for resale. In January one project held a climate change conference with secondary schoolchildren from across Liverpool City Region to help highlight wasted clothes and textiles.

 

Another organisation to have previously received funding was the British Dietetic Association, who have been running the Waste Warriors food waste reduction and cookery skills programme, thanks to £20,000 from the MRWA Community Fund.

 

Suzanne Mitchell, Let’s Get Cooking lead, said: “The opportunity to support a local community with our funding was a really powerful idea. We hope we've inspired households to think about new ways to save money by reducing the amount of food they throw away and growing their own produce using a community garden.”

 

Interested groups can apply via the MRWA website www.merseysidewda.gov.uk.

 

The deadline for submissions is 11.59pm on Sunday 26th March 2023. If groups aren’t sure whether their project is appropriate for consideration then they can submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) via email to MRWA before 5th March.

 

Successful projects should receive the funding by mid May 2023 and will have to deliver their schemes by March 2024.

 

Organisations interested in this year’s Community Fund can:

 

 

 

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS: Sunday 26th March 2023, 11.59pm

 

ENDS

 

Note to editors

 

*Statistic from Merseyside and Halton Waste Composition Analysis 2021/22

 

Image captions: Images show a BDA Waste Warriors cookery lesson in Liverpool, October 2022         

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Video - BDA Waste Warriors project 2022: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ595oSDaag

 

  • The £165,000 comes from the Merseyside Recycling & Waste Authority and Veolia Community Fund 2023/24, which has been running annually since 2006.

 

  • The impact of the 2021/22 Fund saw 17 projects stop 653 tonnes of materials from going to waste, held 647 events and training sessions, and engaged with over 29,000 people across the Liverpool City Region. https://youtu.be/BkJjzlF4cGg

 

  • The Merseyside Recycling & Waste Authority and Veolia Community Fund is open to community and voluntary sector groups, faith groups, not for profit social enterprises and schools in Merseyside and Halton.

 

  • Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority is responsible for the disposal of municipal waste on Merseyside. Established in 1986 following the abolition of Merseyside County Council, it is a statutory Authority that works with all the local authorities on Merseyside – Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral. MRWA takes a lead in advocating recycling, waste minimisation and safe and effective disposal of waste for Merseyside residents.

 

Members of the media for more information please contact:

 

John Lally | Communications and Development Officer

Merseyside Recycling & Waste Authority | 1 Mann Island, Liverpool, L3 1BP

Office: 0151 255 2568 | Email: john.lally@merseysidewda.gov.uk

Disclaimer: Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority