The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has pulled the final round of its Innovation in Waste Prevention Fund for England.

Although Defra has not made a statement regarding the decision, a notice on the Waste & Resource’s Action Programme (WRAP) website states that Defra has decided that a further round ‘would be unlikely to generate many additional “new to the world” ideas for preventing waste’.

The £800,000 fund, launched by WRAP in May 2014 and funded by Defra, was established to support local-level waste prevention projects in England.

Specifically it aimed to help communities to take forward ‘innovative waste prevention, reuse and repair activities in their local areas, working in partnership with local businesses, council, charities and voluntary groups’.

Over the course of two previous rounds of funding, 16 projects had received grants, and the quality of initial applications for funding was described as ‘phenomenal’. But the statement put up on Tuesday (22 September) on the scheme’s page on WRAP’s website reads that ‘after careful consideration’, taking into account that it is ‘learning so much from the 16 exciting projects’ already underway, Defra will not proceed with a third round.

Details of previous funding rounds

The fund offered business partnerships in England grants of between £5,000 and £50,000 to prevent waste of the priority materials outlined in Defra’s Waste Prevention Programme for England: food, textiles, furniture and bulky material, electronic and electrical equipment, plastics, paper and board, construction and demolition, and healthcare and chemicals.

The first round of funding, announced in December, awarded £330,000 to 10 of the 79 applicants.

Successful projects included a repair shed in Hemel Hempstead for businesses and domestic users, providing repairs services and training, a kerbside collection service for textiles, small electrical items and batteries in Tandridge and electrical repair workshops and training events in Havering.

The second round of applications, which closed in February this year, was described as ‘a particularly tough round which was looking for high levels of innovation and new approaches’, and awarded grants to six of the 66 organisations that applied.

Among the successful applicants was Create UK Ltd from Merseyside, which collects white goods from empty housing association properties, refurbishes them and sells them to new tenants at affordable prices with a warranty. As well as ‘closing the loop’ on white goods, the project provides training placements and ‘wider social benefits’.

Re-considered Ltd in Bradford was also funded to take surplus fruit and vegetables from Bradford wholesale market and local growers to create a range of preserves and provide community cookery lessons.

WRAP work on waste prevention continues in other areas

On its website, WRAP said: ‘Some of the organisations, which received funding, are now promoting their projects and WRAP will publish the outcomes in 2016. They will be added to our suite of online tools and guidance, including the Waste Prevention Hub and associated ‘partnerships are key to success’ material launched earlier this year.’

It further elaborated that waste prevention and reuse is ‘a major element’ of its voluntary agreements like the Courtauld Commitment , the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan, the Electrical and Electronic Sustainability Plan and the Hospitality and Food Service Agreement, insisting that ‘these sectors’ activity in [waste prevention and reuse] is widely supported and shared’.

Find out more about the Innovation in Waste Prevention Fund (England).