£220,000 community funding round supports waste prevention projects across Greater Manchester

22 community groups and projects across Greater Manchester aimed at preventing waste have been awarded £220,000 in funding from the Recycle for Greater Manchester (R4GM) Community Fund.

The R4GM Community Fund, now in its third year, support local community and voluntary sector groups offering creative solutions for recycling, repairing or reusing household waste throughout the city-region. In the most recent funding round, 22 organisations were awarded between £875 and £22,000 for projects. Around half of the organisations supported were already backed by the fund last year, with additional funding helping them to grow and develop their offer.

Among the new projects being supported by the funding to prevent waste are a growing network of ‘repair cafés’ that help residents fix a wide range of items, instead of disposing of then and buying replacements. In Stockport, community interest company Make Build Grow will be launching their “MakeGood” project, to upskill local people in repairing, reusing and repurposing items, while Sustainable Living in the Heatons will also use funding to establish a repair café in the borough.

Lauren Liles from Sustainable Living in the Heatons, said:

“This support will have a major impact on progressing the setting up of a Repair Café in the Heatons aimed at encouraging residents to repair and reuse household items, reduce waste and long term reduce their carbon footprint. The Repair Café, run by volunteers offers the opportunity to learn new skills in a social environment.”

Other initiatives include computer and laptop recycling; bike repair and donation; upcycled fashion; plastic repurposing; a children’s education project focused on the importance of soil for sustainability and biodiversity; and creation of a Community Cookery Champions network to help people reduce food waste and create healthy and affordable meals at home.

Cllr Tom Ross, GMCA lead for the Environment, Waste and Recycling, said:

“Firstly, I want to congratulate all the successful applicants and wish them the best of luck as they begin work on their projects.

“We recognise that community-based solutions such as these are crucial to help Greater Manchester reach its sustainability goals. Local people understand the needs of their communities best and this fund empowers them to take action and make real change.”

The annual fund of £220,000 comes from the sale of preloved household items in a joint initiative by R4GM and waste contractor SUEZ recycling and recovery UK (SUEZ). The items are collected at the recycling centres across Greater Manchester, before being cleaned and repaired for resale in three Renew Shops located at centres in Oldham, Trafford and Salford, as well as through an eBay store.

John Wrigley, Regional Director for SUEZ, said:

“At SUEZ we operate a triple bottom line approach to everything we do to ensure that our work benefits people and the planet. Our reuse project in Greater Manchester with the development of the Renew Shops and Hub is a perfect example of this, saving items that would have previously gone to waste and benefiting local people at the same time through the money raised. We are extremely proud and it’s a real pleasure to see the community initiatives that will make an impact in their local areas benefiting.” 

The R4GM Community Fund is accessed through the Greater Manchester Environment Fund (GMEF), the UK’s first regional environmental impact fund.

Grace O’Leary, GMEF Grants Manager, said:

“Round 3 received a high number of excellent applications and there has been intense competition for funding. R4GM are delighted to see so many strong projects proposed and feel that the awarded applicants will deliver wonderful work resulting in a real positive impact.”