Diverting, reducing, and better managing waste
The Resource Action Fund was an £18million fund, provided by Defra to support resource efficiency projects, with the goal of diverting, reducing, and better managing waste.
- The Fund supported new projects in England, aimed at resource efficiency.
- Funded by Defra, the Resource Action Fund supported key policy outcomes in the areas of food, plastics, textiles, recycling infrastructure, and litter. It did this through a variety of mechanisms including large and small-scale grants, and through expert support in the areas of food and non-household municipal recycling.
Impact
Over their lifetime*, the impact of these interventions will continue to grow:
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The 296 organisations that have received support through the Resource Action Fund are expected to divert over 180,871 tonnes of waste.
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This is estimated to avoid over 395,228 tonnes of CO2e emissions.
Find out more about the Resource Action Fund's impact here.
Food grants
The Resource Action Fund grant schemes for food waste prevention aimed to address three key challenges to reducing and preventing food waste:
- utilisation of surplus food;
- turning unavoidable food waste into valuable products; and
- changing consumer behaviours.
Find out more about the impact of the Resource Action Fund food grants here.
Plastics Packaging Grant
Grants providing new capital infrastructure projects to significantly increase recycling capacity for difficult to recycle plastic packaging materials.
Find out more about the impact of this grant here.
Textiles Recycling and Re-use Grant
Grants aimed at reducing waste through investment in equipment and innovative solutions to increase the recycling of textiles or extend its lifetime through reuse or repurposing, so that this material remains a valuable resource.
Non-Household Municipal Business Waste (NHM)
Grants providing capital infrastructure and equipment to increase recycling capacity of non-household municipal waste. Non-household municipal waste includes packaging, paper, and food waste generated by settings such as offices and the hospitality and food, education, health, transport, retail and wholesale sectors.
Litter Binfrastructure Grant – applications are now closed
Grants supporting local authorities in England to improve litter bin infrastructure.
Expert support for food businesses
For large UK food and drink businesses we have a team of Business Engagement Specialists to help you on your food waste reduction journey by supporting the implementation of the ‘Target, Measure, Act’ approach in UK operations.
If you would like to speak to a member of the team about the support available please contact us.
Find out more about the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap where you can find a wealth of information including an up-to-date list of supporters and committed businesses.
* Lifetime is estimated at 10 years, except for value from food waste grants where this is the six month monitoring period.