What is the Wrap Grant Scheme:
The Wrap grant scheme (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 Wrap grant scheme supports 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.
The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has announced that £475,000 of funding has been made available for refill projects in the second round of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) competition. With funding coming from the UK Government’s Plastics Research and Innovation Fund (PRIF) as part of the UK Circular Plastics Flagship Projects, the competition will award grants of between £50,000-£150,000 to projects that trial new ways of implementing refill infrastructure in existing or new supply chains.
The grants are intended to support projects that provide innovative ways for textile waste to be recycled or re-used, keeping it out of landfill or incineration so that it remains a valuable resource. Successful projects need to demonstrate “innovation beyond normal practice” and will be assessed against a number of criteria.
Applicants are being invited to apply for between £200,000 and £1 million in grant funding, across one of two lots. It will focus on flexible film packs including small format; reusable packaging and new business models; collection, sorting, cleaning and recycling; and end market development. WRAP will deliver the grants on behalf of UKRI. WRAP is particularly interested in projects that promote refill where recycling is not an option, such as with detergents and cleaning products, and the possibility of incorporating service models rather than product models.
