£45,000 up for grabs for East Sussex green community projects

Viridor and East Sussex County Council are calling for grant applications for the Viridor in East Sussex Fund, which has £45,000 to donate to community projects.

The fund has been established to fund projects worth £15,000 a year but the initial funding has not been awarded due to delays associated with Covid and the time required to establish the fund’s governance and criteria.

Viridor’s Head of Local Authority Development, Recycling, Simon Prior said funding applications would be considered in terms of a set of criteria based around environmental sustainability, community involvement, local need, value for money and education. Projects must also be located within the administrative area of the county council.

In addition to this, successful applications will be those which also demonstrate community participation and benefit, social inclusion and breadth of engagement and a strong benefit for the area through jobs, training, and skills.

Simon said: “We are incredibly excited about the opportunity to contribute funds to projects which make a real difference to environmental sustainability in East Sussex. This is the foundation of Viridor’s relationship with the county council - to return recyclable materials to the circular economy so they can go on to be used again and to demonstrate that residents’ efforts in separating their recycling really does make a difference.”

Cllr Claire Dowling, lead member for Transport and Environment at East Sussex County Council, said: “We are delighted to be working with Viridor on this initiative to support environmental community projects across East Sussex.

“Often quite modest funding can make a huge difference and help get local schemes up and running. I would encourage local community groups to get in touch and see if they are eligible for a share of the grant funding.”

Applications will be evaluated by the Viridor in East Sussex Board, which will include representatives of Viridor and East Sussex County Council.

Funding will not be provided for: staffing, maintenance and running costs; projects where a statutory duty applies (services run by the local council); individuals seeking sponsorship or donations for charitable events such as fun runs or sky dives etc.

Viridor processes around 50,000 tonnes of East Sussex County Council’s recycling each year. The company receives the county’s kerbside recycling, including paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays, aluminium cans, steel cans and glass from all five districts and boroughs.

The recycling from Eastbourne and Hastings Borough, Lewes, Rother and Wealden District Councils is received at Viridor’s Crayford Materials Recycling Facility, with the plastics collected continuing its onward processing journey to the company’s specialist recycling and reprocessing plants.