Waste Minimisation Fund

Grants & Funding - Waste Minimisation Grant.

Purpose of the Fund

The Horowhenua Waste Minimisation Grant is available to help fund start-up costs of a project that minimises waste in the Horowhenua District, by reducing or reusing waste that would otherwise go to a landfill.

Project values should align with the vision, goals and objectives from our Waste Management and Minimisation Plan which is:

  1. To avoid creating waste.
  2. To make it easy and safe to recycle.
  3. To ensure households and businesses have access to appropriate disposal of residual waste.
  4. To create opportunities for the Horowhenua District - community partnerships, jobs, new products, more efficient businesses.
  5. To reduce illegal dumping.
  6. To improve community understanding of issues and opportunities for waste minimisation and management in the Horowhenua District.

Initiatives that target the top of the waste hierarchy (i.e. Reduction or Reuse of resources) will be prioritised, however safe disposal and treatment methods will also be considered.

Funding rounds

This grant will be open for one funding round in the 2024 – 2025 financial year that opens on 1 August 2024 and closes at 11.59pm on 31 August 2024

Applicants will be notified of decisions late October 2024.
(Note: Projects cannot begin before 1 November 2024).

Criteria

Applications must clearly demonstrate a link to at least one or more of the following criteria:

  1. Reduction of waste at the initial source of a waste stream.
  2. Recapture and reuse of products/waste streams.
  3. Improve recycling, through reprocessing waste materials to produce new products, or increasing ease of recycling for residents and/or businesses.
  4. Recapture and redistribution of food waste.
  5. Composting of organic waste and green waste.
  6. Implementation of a product stewardship programme with government accreditation for a priority product.

Who can apply?

  • Community Groups and Organisations
  • Individuals

Who cannot apply?

  • Groups funded substantially from Central Government or who have other independent means of regular income.
  • Organisations needing considerable capital funding.
  • Organisations with unfinished projects from a previous funding round or outstanding accountability reports.
  • Applicants submitting an incomplete application

Applicant Instructions

  • Written quotes for each expense item in your project budget that have a cost of over $250.  Local suppliers should be used where possible.  Where a preferred quote is not the least expensive quote provided, this should be indicated by the applicant.
  • A copy of your organisations latest financial statements (accounts) that includes disclosure of financial assistance received from other sources.  Funds tagged for specific purposes must be clearly identified.
  • A bank deposit slip (or certified copy of a bank statement) for an account in the name of the applicant organisation (or parent body)
  • Completed application form.
  • Relevant supporting documentation e.g. cover letters, support letters etc.

Where there is missing information or documentation the applicant should explain why.  Incomplete applications may result in a request for financial assistance being declined.  While the grant remains open for applications, Horowhenua District Council (HDC) officers may attempt to give applicants an opportunity to rectify missing elements but no guarantee is given in this regard and no request for extra information inters eligibility for a grant.

Terms and Conditions

  1. A grant recipient must:
    a. Spend the grant within nine (9) months of a grant request being approved, within the approved time frame specified in the Accountability Reporting and Payments schedule or upon request by HDC (whichever comes first).  Payment of any subsequent grants may not be made until all milestone accountability reporting requirements are met in full.
    b. Spend the grant only for the purpose(s) approved by, and subject to any conditions imposed by, the Horowhenua District Council’s Community Funding and Recognition Committee.
    c. Return to the HDC any portion of the grant that is not spent on the approved purpose(s). If the grant payment includes GST, the grant recipient must also return the GST component of the grant.
    d. Make any files or records relating to the activity or project available for inspection within 10 working days if requested by HDC.
    e. Keep financial records that demonstrate how the grant was spent for five (5) years after the end of the agreement term.
    f.  Acknowledge the receipt of the HDC grant as a separate entry in its financial statements, or in a note to its financial statements.
    g. Inform HDC of any changes that affect the organisation’s ability to deliver the activity(ies) or project(s) (eg changes to financial situation; an intention to wind-up or cease operations; or any other significant event, before the grant has been fully used.
    h. Agree to notify HDC if any of the grant money is stolen or misappropriated and to consider if Police charges need to be laid.
    i. Agree that HDC have authority to publish that the grant has been made to the grant recipient for the approved purpose.

  2. During the term of this agreement a grant recipient may request a variation to the purpose, term, or conditions of this agreement. This needs to be requested before any expenditure, failure to do so will be treated as non- compliance with grant terms and conditions.

  3. A grant must not be spent on any item that falls within the exclusions outlined by HDC.

  4. Failure to comply with any of the terms and conditions within this agreement, or the provision of false information in the request may result, without limitation, in Horowhenua District Council terminating this agreement and:
    a. Requiring repayment of all or part of the grant.
    b. Withholding payment of this and other HDC administered funds until issues are resolved.
    c. Imposing additional terms and conditions before any HDC funding is approved.
    d. Recommending to the Community Recognition & Funding committee, to decline future funding.

  5. For the purpose of gaining or providing information relevant to the funding of the organisation, the HDC may disclose to, or obtain information from, any other government department or agency, private person or organisation.

  6. The HDC is subject to the Official Information Act 1982 and may be required to release information unless there is good reason under the Act to withhold the information.

  7. A reduced level of funding (partial funding) may be offered by Council, particularly when demand on the grant scheme is high. Where partial funding is awarded and subsequently uplifted by an applicant, the applicant agrees that the project can be completed despite the immediate shortfall. Applicants are given time to consider any funding awarded to them before uplifting.

  8. The decision of the Horowhenua Community Funding and Recognition Committee is final and not open to negotiation. If the Hall Society’s position changes with respect to the submitted project then this should be advised to the Grant Scheme Administrator as soon as possible along with a formal request for the approved funding purpose to be modified. This will be referred to the Horowhenua Community Funding and Recognition Committee for determination.

Successful Waste Minimisation Projects:

The Levin Repair Café was launched in December 2020 from a Waste Minimisation Fund from Horowhenua District Council. A Repair Café is a regular event where people can bring their broken goods along for volunteers to repair. It is a social space that utilises skills in the community, alleviates social isolation, assists people living on a tight budget and most importantly promotes environmental awareness and sustainable living. The Repair Café encourages people to repair or upcycle household goods, as opposed to buying new items and disposing of broken goods to landfill. The programme also encourages individuals to learn new repair skills, moving our community towards long-term waste minimisation and behaviour change.

Palmy’s Plastic Pollution Challenge (PPPC) was set up in 2019 to understand the scale of plastic pollution going into the Manawatū river via urban streams and to use this knowledge to improve the health of our local waterways. The project received Waste Minimisation Funding to launch.

Kaicycle composting takes compostable scraps from homes, offices and small businesses and recycles them into living compost. It is a bicycle-powered compost collection service that operates in Wellington City and the surrounding suburbs.

Cup Recycling UK deals with the problem of single-use takeaway coffee cups. As an on-the-go item, coffee cup waste ends up in a whole host of places such as train stations, universities, offices and domestic bins. This Scheme aims to make the collection of cups commercially attractive for waste collectors to include as part of their recycling offering to customers.