County Council’s Waste Prevention Community Grant Fund 2019 open for applications

With the cost of dealing with Hampshire’s household waste now regularly topping the £100 million a year mark, Hampshire County Council is offering grants of up to £5,000 to help kick start or expand projects, products and services which prevent waste at home.

Councillor Rob Humby, Executive Member for Environment and Transport at Hampshire County Council, explained: “Dealing with waste is a costly business for everyone and reducing the amount of household waste produced in the first place can make a big difference.

“We know that some of the best work in waste reduction goes on at a local level with groups sharing knowledge or providing facilities. We want to encourage these initiatives and inspire more. There is some great work going on, but I know that limited funding can sometimes prevent good work expanding, so I hope that community groups and other eligible organisations will be encouraged to apply to the grant fund to help them.

“This is the second year we’re running this grant fund, as the first year was so successful.  Grants awarded last year have helped numerous projects across Hampshire to help people waste less, including a furniture repair café in Bordon, a community fridge in Gosport and even a children’s book distributed to all Hampshire’s libraries as well as infant and primary schools.

The County Council is inviting applications from local organisations for up to £5,000 to support them in delivering projects, products and services which prevent household waste or encourage re-use.  The total grant fund available for the year is £65,000.

Councillor Humby continued: “We’re looking for projects that reduce or prevent ‘household waste’– this is different to recycling as it involves taking action before a product or material becomes waste, so we mean the rubbish you might put in your waste bin at home or take to your local Household Waste Recycling Centre for disposal.”

Interested groups are encouraged to discuss potential projects with the County Council’s team prior to applying. Please contact the team via email: [email protected] to arrange an informal discussion.

For full eligibility criteria and more information on the Grant, including how to apply and videos of some of last year’s successful projects, visit: www.hants.gov.uk/waste-prevention-community

Who can apply?

• Community, neighbourhood or voluntary groups
• Registered Charities
• Schools, colleges and universities
• Not-for-profit organisations (including social enterprises)
• Businesses with fewer than 250 employees, i.e. small and medium sized enterprises
• Faith groups delivering community work
• Parish Councils

Previously successful projects include:

• Expanding the reach of family events to share, hire or rent baby products and toys.
• Composting courses with a focus on the health benefits of gardening.
• A waste prevention themed children’s book aimed at all infant aged children & their families.
• Launching beeswax wrap ‘satchels’ as an alternative to plastic sandwich bags.
• Running community upcycling classes.
• An extension of a furniture workshop to enable upcycling and repair activities.
• Running a school cooking club to teach cookery skills and learn about healthy eating.
• Setting up a monthly repair café.
• A local campaign to raise awareness of reusable alternatives to single use plastics.
• Providing a community fridge to redistribute surplus food from local homes.

More about the projects delivered with help from the 2018 Waste Prevention Community Grant Fund:

The Rubbish Monster Thing

Hampshire’s Busy Bees

The Furniture Helpline and Repair Cafe

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