$50,000 On Offer For Great Waste Ideas

If you’ve got a great idea for reducing waste, from next week Hamilton City Council is offering a share of a $50,000 government fund to help get that idea off the ground.

The Contestable Waste Minimisation Fund allocates $50,000 annually from the Government’s national waste levy to fund projects promoting or achieving waste minimisation in the city.

“There are lots of groups with great initiatives for reducing our city’s waste and we want to help turn those ideas into reality. We need to encourage and support forward-thinking waste reduction ideas and this fund lets us do that,” said Hamilton City Council’s Waste Minimisation Advisor Kerry Skeer.
There are two categories of funding; standard funding ($1000 - $5000), and special project funding which offers up to $15,000.

Reducing waste is not only good for the environment, it also reduces the dependence on landfills and ultimately reduces costs for ratepayers. Recycling and composting are great ways to reduce waste in the home.

Kerry Skeer sees the fund as a big part of cutting waste in the city, now and in the future.
“Last year one of the recipients of funding was the Waikato Environment Centre’s Kaivolution initiative, which collects unsold food from local businesses and distributes it to local charities. In just a few months they distributed over 50 tonnes of food – food which would otherwise have gone to waste,” Ms Skeer said.


Photo courtesy of Hamilton City Council

Waikato Environment Centre manager Ruth Seabright says the council funding was invaluable as Kaivolution was established.

“Once we started the programme we realised we needed a walk in cool room, not just fridges. Having Hamilton City Council funding available meant we were able to quickly revisit our plan and have that installed. In terms of getting Kaivolution off the ground it was vital."

Previous fund recipients included a comedy team who took a 15-minute recycling show to over 8000 people at businesses, clubs and schools.

“We know there’s a heap of great ideas out there, we’d love to hear about them and see how we can help spread the waste minimisation message,” Ms Skeer said.

Applications for the fund open on Monday 14 September, and close on Sunday 11 October.

Entries can be submitted online at hamilton.govt.nz/wasteminimisation