Projects funded to make the most of waste
Projects funded to make the most of waste
8 September 2014
Six Bay of Plenty waste reduction projects are being helped by a newly-launched fund to make the most of the region’s waste resources.
The Waste Resource Advisory Group (WRAG), administered by Bay of Plenty Regional Council, launched the $50,000 fund in June to help promote waste initiatives from Bay of Plenty-based businesses, industry, councils or community groups.
The six successful projects include construction waste collection and re-sale, a food rescue project, organic waste diversion from cafes, waste education workshops, a marae-based zero waste project and community worm farming.
Chair of the Regional Council’s Regional Direction and Delivery Committee Paula Thompson said 13 organisations and individuals had applied for more than $160,000 in funding, and WRAG had spread the available funding across as many projects as it could.
“We wanted the money to be spread across the greatest number of projects, so we boosted the fund by a small amount, and with some savings here and there we can now fund six projects,” she said.
The projects being funded are:
Community Resources Whakatane ($15,000) –
setting up a construction waste and demolition waste
collection service, purchasing a trailer to take around
building sites. Waste will be sorted into re-useable items
and sold at their yard.
Good Neighbour Aotearoa Trust
($15,000) – Tauranga Food Rescue began in February,
collecting waste food from supermarkets and food stores. The
group plans to provide 257,000 meals a year from
‘rescued’ food and distribute them to community groups
and the Tauranga Food Bank. Their funding will be used to
employ professional staff to grow the volunteer-staffed
organisation’s work.
Tauranga City Council’s organic
waste diversion project ($12,000) – a collection system
for used coffee grounds from cafes to be composted. This
will divert an estimated three tonnes of coffee ground waste
from each cafe each year, saving businesses disposal costs,
space in landfills and creating a high-quality coffee
compost which can be on-sold as soil conditioner.
Gourmet
Night Market ($4165) – funding waste education
facilitators to provide public education workshops at
Gourmet Night Market events over the summer months in Mt
Maunganui. The aim is to influence waste behaviour change
both at public events and in the home.
Para Kore – Zero
Waste on Marae ($4165) – region wide, Para Kore will use
WRAG funding to purchase a trailer to transfer and deliver
waste minimisation bins and tools to marae around the
region, reducing the large amount of compostable and
recyclable waste that is disposed of tolandfill after hui
and events.
Rotorua District Council ($4165) –
Community worm farming workshops, providing participants
with all they need to set up their own worm farms, creating
home compost and reducing food waste to landfill.
“The
contestable fund was designed to promote the region’s
Waste and Resource Efficiency Strategy’s actions and
initiatives. This includes fostering collaboration and
partnerships, improving data and information management,
increasing resource efficiency and beneficial reuse,
reducing the harmful impacts of waste and stimulating
research and innovation while reducing waste to landfill,”
Ms Thompson said.
“We were delighted with the number and quality of the applications, which show there are some great ideas out in the community to make the most of what would otherwise be waste.”
Ends