Waste Minimisation Fund

Hastings District Council has two Waste Minimisation Funds available to the community that aim to support projects that result in a new waste minimisation activity, either by implementing new initiatives or expanding on existing activities.

The purpose of these funds is to contribute to building a community that values our resources, re-uses, re-purposes and recycles as much as possible. This can be achieved through education, engagement and the development of new technology and ways of working.

If you have a waste minimisation initiative – we want to hear from you!

The types of funds available:

•  Monthly Waste Minimisation Contestable Fund
  Available for small applications under $2000. Applications are considered each month from February to November each year, with a pool of $2000 available each month. Your project must not start within 6 weeks of the applications being submitted.

• Annual Large Waste Minimisation Contestable Fund
  Available once per year for applications over $2000 from a total pool of $20,000. 
  Applications are open this year (2021) from Thursday, 19 August until midnight Thursday, 30 September.

Not sure where to start?

If you’ve got an idea and would like to talk it through, contact our Waste Minimisation Officer via reducewaste@hdc.govt.nz

Priority areas for the grants are:

1. Minimisation / avoidance / reduction of waste creation
2. Reuse or upcycling of waste materials
3. Recycling of waste materials
4. Recovery of waste resource (the selective extraction of disposed materials for a specific next use, such as recycling, composting).

What do we support?

• Infrastructure design and development
• Materials/equipment and plant
• Skills development
• Trials and pilot programmes
• Education programmes
• Workshops, neighbourhood meetings, events, neighbourhood mentoring and social learning
• Monitoring and surveys
• Diversion services of waste from landfill
• Feasibility studies and business cases

 What we can't fund:

• Projects that focus on waste disposal, the treatment of waste prior to disposal, or clean-ups (with the exemption of marine or waterway waste clean-ups when attached to a community education initiative/programme).
• Projects that are inconsistent with Hastings District Council’s Joint Waste Management and Minimisation Plan and funding outcome areas.
• Projects that do not involve waste generated from within the Hastings District Council area.
• Subsidising the cost of waste to landfill
• Debt servicing
• Retrospective projects where the funding sought is for work already completed.

Examples of projects other Councils have funded:

Community and charities:

• Repair cafés
• Zero waste Christmas workshop and market
• Toy library support

Education provider:

• Shelving for a uniform repair and re-sell project

Businesses:

• Reusable pellet wraps
• Encouraging reusable items and moving away from single-use disposables in the workplace
• “ReMaker” space establishment – a space to look at creative solutions to rescue and upcycle fashion & wood waste and turn these ideas into sustainable businesses.
• Delivery of workshops and programmes for the community, businesses and schools to educate around waste issues and encourage behaviour change
• Trials for diverting waste on building sites

Where the funds come from?

The Waste Minimisation Contestable funds have been established using a portion of the Waste Disposal Levy funds received by Hastings District Council, mandated under the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 (WMA). Funding is produced from the waste levy which is managed by the Ministry for the Environment (MfE). The current rate for this levy is $10 per tonne of waste that enters landfill nationally, half of this levy is then designated to local council based on population size. The remaining amount is placed into a national contestable fund. Both funds are designated to encourage waste management and minimisation activities or initiatives, and to further the goals of the local WMMP and the national WMA.

APPLY ONLINE FOR THE WASTE MINIMISATION FUND HERE