Community groups receive funding to combat household waste from UK’s first regional environmental impact fund

A total of £220,000 has been awarded to 21 local Community and Voluntary sector groups to help fund their creative solutions to recycling, repairing or reusing household waste in Greater Manchester.

Securing between £1,700 and £20,000 as part of the Recycle for Greater Manchester Community Fund (2021 – 2022), the successful projects will not only offer an incredible variety of innovative solutions to reduce household waste but will also be addressing mental health, food poverty and accessibility issues, creating a wider network of social benefits for the communities they work within. In this way, the fund not only contributes towards environmental improvements, but to residents of Greater Manchester as a whole, creating new opportunities and supporting individuals to have a better quality of life.

The fund is a joint Recycle for Greater Manchester and SUEZ initiative, supported through profits from three new reuse shops – “Renew” – which launched in July this year. The shops are located at Household Waste Recycling Centres in Oldham, Trafford and Salford, and sell pre-loved household items that would have otherwise gone to waste, increasing recycling and supporting the environment.

Cllr Emmott, Greater Manchester Green City-Region lead said: “There has been an amazing response to the fund, and we’re really pleased to be able to support such a wide range of innovative projects that are going to help reduce waste and bring new benefits and opportunities to our local communities.

Funding community-led projects can not only support green jobs and skills in our towns and cities, but it also helps contribute to Greater Manchester’s wider ambitions to be a leading green city-region.”

Anna Bell, Contract Manager for SUEZ in Greater Manchester said, “It’s a real pleasure to see community initiatives that will make an impact in their local areas benefiting from the work we are doing with the Renew shops and helping us to spread the social benefit further.”

The Recycle for Greater Manchester Community Fund is accessed through the Greater Manchester Environment Fund, the UK’s first regional environmental impact fund.

Resma Patel, GMEF Programme Manager said, “This is the start of an exciting new programme of funding across Greater Manchester which we hope will support charities and community groups to take action in reducing our impact on the environment.”

The projects benefiting from the fund include the “Green Superheroes Project” – a project which will create and deliver accessible and inclusive training sessions about recycling to people with learning disabilities.

Jennifer Neville, Project Manager at Future Directions CIC said, “We are absolutely delighted to have been awarded this funding so we can develop our ‘Green Superheroes’ project. This funding will enable us to recruit people with learning disabilities to co-produce this project; supporting them to have a voice and make a positive difference in their community.

As well as providing training and developing easy-read resources, we will hold workshops and work across Greater Manchester to raise awareness and inspire others to think differently about waste and learn how to recycle more. People with learning disabilities have often been excluded from conversations around protecting our environment and sustainability so we’re really excited to be able to develop this project and make recycling accessible to everyone.”

Another project, “Hope Upcycle, Recycle, Lease and Exchange Scheme (HURLES)”, is offering furniture loan, repair, upcycle or exchange schemes to residents living in Stockport and Manchester. The team also aim to lease furniture on a short-term basis to landlords and tenants in need.

For a full list of all the successful projects visit www.gmenvfund.org/recycle-greater-manchester-community-fund.