Fund details
Closed: No longer available (from July 2024)
Contact: Waste Operations team, wasteoperations@wcc.govt.nz
See past allocations (191KB PDF)
Why we’re targeting organic waste
When organic waste breaks down in landfill it releases methane, a harmful greenhouse gas which contributes to climate change.
Almost 60% of the kerbside waste going to the Southern Landfill is organic, so we can make a significant difference by addressing this.
Priorities for the fund
Projects must reduce organic waste. Funding recommendations will be based on assessment in order of priority, according to the food and drink waste hierarchy:
(i) Prevention: Wasted materials, ingredients and product reduced at source
(ii) Prevention: Redistribution to people
(iii) Prevention: Animal feed
(iv) Recycling: Anaerobic digestion or composting
(v) Recovery: Incineration of waste with energy recovery
(vi) Disposal: To landfill or sewer, or incineration without energy recovery.
Consideration was given to:
- project scale and amount of organic waste diverted from landfill
- acknowledgement and inclusion of Te Ao Māori principles
- adherence to the principles of the Circular Economy.
Criteria
- The applicant should be a legally constituted community group or organisation (or fall under an umbrella agreement). This might include community groups, businesses, iwi/Māori organisations, early childhood centres, schools, tertiary organisations and other community-based organisations operating in the Wellington City Council area.
- The applicant should provide evidence of sound financial management, good employment practice, clear and detailed planning, clear performance measures, and reporting processes.
- Projects must result in the reduction of organic waste to landfill, either by implementing new initiatives, or significant expansion in the scope or coverage of existing activities.
- Projects must promote or achieve reduction of organic waste to landfill; this includes the reduction of organic waste, and the reuse, recycling and/or recovery of materials or energy for further use or processing.
- Projects will be for a discrete funding timeframe of one year, after which the project objectives should have been achieved and, where appropriate, the initiative has become self-funding.
- Funding can be used for operational or capital expenditure that is required to undertake a project.
- Projects should be Wellington-based and mainly benefitting the people of Wellington.
- The project should show evidence of community support, collaboration, and building partnerships with other organisations (for example, social media and crowd funding, letters of support from other organisations/leaders). This should also include contribution to the project either in cash or in kind.
- The Council respects mana whenua values and aspirations for the environment, projects should reflect an understanding of Wellington’s history, how to care for the land and resources and an understanding of wāhi tapu.
Funded projects
If you have applied for funding from the Council before, you can create a new funding request by logging into the funding portal. If you receive an error message when trying to access the funding portal on a mobile device please use these instructions or contact the Funding Team.
Go to Funding Portal