Waste minimisation fund now open
A $40,000 fund with the purpose of helping the community plan and deliver projects that reduce waste in Waipā is now open.
The Waste Minimisation Community Fund offers support to individuals, community groups, businesses, Iwi/Māori organisations and education providers who want to deliver a waste minimisation projects for the Waipā community.
Waste minimisation officer Sally Fraser said Council is looking for projects with an emphasis on innovative solutions for eliminating or reducing waste in the Waipā district.
“We encourage businesses, groups and individuals to apply with their ideas that focus on rethinking, reducing or reusing waste. The overall aim is having less rubbish going to landfill.”
“In Waipā, we’re lucky to have really proactive people with great waste minimisation ideas. We’re keen to see what new and innovative ideas are out there that can be supported,” she added.
A past fund recipient, Mighty River Domain received funding to install two water bottle refill stations to allow event goers to ditch single use and refill their own water bottles.
Mighty River Domain event operations manager, Phoebe Clark said “What a drastic change we’ve seen in our large events. Hundreds of people now refilling drink bottles with fresh water instead of bringing single use bottles on to site. We estimate a 5% decrease in single use plastic bottles being sent to recycling from our site. We expect to see a much larger decrease coming into the next season as event hosts become more familiar with these refill stations.”
Other previous successful projects include an e-waste collection, upcycling old mattresses into new seating for a Marae and creating washable facemasks for the community.
Two drop-in sessions will be held in Te Awamutu and Cambridge for interested applicants seeking advice on their projects.
The sessions are at the Te Awamutu Library Community Room, 12-2pm on Thursday 17 June and Council’s Leamington meeting room, 23 Wilson Street Cambridge, 10am-12pm, Tuesday 15 June.
