Twenty-three businesses and community groups have been successful in their bid for the council’s new Repair, Reuse, Recycle grants which will enable them to carry out projects designed to improve our environment, save money on bills, take climate action and be less wasteful.
The funding is aimed at helping businesse kickstart a range of projects, from investing in sustainable materials such as reusable coffee cups to repurposing clothing.
Other projects include building community gardens and buying a more energy efficient system such as a heat pump.
The diversity of projects reflects the variety of successful business and community groups selected for the programme.
One example is local cafe and bistro On The Hoof. It is aiming to cut down on disposable coffee cups. Some 2.5 billion coffee cups are used and thrown away each year in the UK but just 0.25% of these are recycled.
The Sydenham bistro will be investing in reusable coffee cups for their customers, alongside better washing facilities and the development of a cup deposit scheme and incentives.
Lewisham, which is providing 10 grants of up to £1,000 each, says it is offering the funding to encourage businesses to look at ways of reducing climate change risk such as reducing how much fuel or packaging is used.
Lewisham says it welcomes ideas that can help cut down on energy usage and the amount of waste created.
Details of how to apply can be found here. Funding is available to support a broad range of business costs, providing they can demonstrate how the expenditure will support the growth of their business.
For example, grants could be given for:
- equipment that will help a business achieve lower energy usage
- equipment that will help a business use less single-use plastic or create less waste
- materials/stock for a new low or zero-waste product line
- product development
- community building and partnerships with local groups
- prototypes
- website/booking system build
- training in repair or retrofitting services
- campaigns to help change customer behaviour