Nov 24 2006
Round five of the Organics Capital Support Programme has been launched by WRAP (the Waste & Resources Action Programme) to help businesses increase their production of BSI PAS 100 certified composted material.
The latest capital support programme offers funding towards the development of new composting or anaerobic digestion facilities, the improvement of existing ones and/or facilities for the manufacture of added value products using compost such as growing media or topsoil.
The key objective of the funding programme is to reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste, particularly food and garden waste, entering landfill by increasing the capacity to recycle these materials into quality compost.
WRAP’s Supply Programme Manager – Organics, Louise Hollingworth, said: “Following the success of our last Business Plan 2004-2006, where we exceeded the target of 300,000 tonnes per year additional processing capacity, this new funding support programme aims to deliver a further 450,000 tonnes across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
“Companies proposing projects within these regions are eligible for up to 30 per cent of the capital set-up costs, which could include purchasing land, installing new infrastructure and buying individual pieces of equipment.”
The programme is being run as two individual competitions, one for projects in England and Northern Ireland (ORG068) and the other for projects in Scotland (ORG069. A number of workshops are taking place during December and will offer further information about the programme’s aims, guidance for completing applications and an opportunity for a one-to-one, confidential discussion with a WRAP staff member.
Capital funding is just one aspect of WRAP’s wider Business Support offering and these workshops will also highlight how the other business support services can help composters with their expansion plans.
For venue date and registration details, including one-to-one sessions with WRAP staff, email [email protected] with names of the attendee(s) and your company, stating which event you wish to attend.
Capital funding at work
GP Plantscape, a company operating a garden waste composting facility in Blantyre, is already benefiting from WRAP’s previous organics capital support programme after receiving funding to double the size of its working area to five acres by January 2008.
The £121,000 of funding via WRAP from the Scottish Executive will build on earlier support awarded to the company by WRAP and will ultimately provide an additional 27,000 tonnes of composting capacity per year, which equates to an extra 71,000 tonnes of garden waste being processed over the contract term. The support received will enable GP Plantscape to continue supplying sufficient quantities of BSI PAS 100 compost.
In another project, multi-national WBB Minerals was awarded up to £710,000 towards a maximum of £2.4 million worth of construction work to enable the company to supply high quality recycled products to the sports and leisure sector across the UK. This equates to the diversion of approximately 50,000 tonnes of garden waste materials from landfill over five years.
WBB Minerals holds a leading position in the UK sports and leisure industry, supplying a broad range of top dressing and rootzone materials for use in the construction and maintenance of golf courses, football pitches, bowling greens, equestrian arenas etc.
At six WBB sites across England and Scotland, new covered storage and blending bays will be constructed to allow compost to be mixed with sand and other materials to produce a range of root zone products. This expansion will enable the company to use an additional 25,000 tonnes of BSI PAS 100 compost over the five year project term.
The fifth organics capital support programme aims to build on these previous successes and offer businesses similar support to boost the amount of BSI PAS 100 certified composted material they produce or use.