If you have an innovative idea or project aimed at reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill, you could be eligible for funding from the Resource Wise Community Fund.

Tauranga City Council's contestable Resource Wise Community Fund is about enabling the community to find creative ways to reduce waste, as well as inspiring and encouraging everyone to send less to landfill.

Applications for the Resource Wise Community Fund are now open and close on Friday 9 June. Grants of up to $25,000 are available.

Tauranga City Council sustainability and waste manager Daniel Smith says the fund was open to individuals, community groups, businesses, iwi/Māori organisations and education providers who want to deliver waste minimisation projects within Tauranga.

'Everyone has a role to play to reduce waste and its impact on the cultural, social, economic and environmental wellbeing of our communities. We are so fortunate to have leaders in our community who are waste champions.

'Previous years have shown the passion our community has for waste minimisation which has provided some great outcomes. We know that this year will be no different.”

The Resource Wise Community Fund aims to empower communities to:

reduce the generation and consumption of materials

reuse and repair materials to minimise the generation of waste

recycle and compost materials to divert waste from landfill

prevent and reduce instances of littering and illegal dumping, while promoting waste minimisation

The fund also helps Council to achieve the actions set out in the Waste Management Minimisation Plan 2022 - 2028, while also enhancing the delivery of the Resource Wise behaviour change programmes.

Grants range from $2,000 to $25,000 from a pool of $100,000. The funding is made available from the Waste Levy and is not funded by general rates.

The Waste Levy is a pool of funding supplied to councils from the Ministry for the Environment for waste minimisation education.

All projects must meet the funding criteria.

More information, including the online application form, application guidelines and funding criteria is available at tauranga.govt.nz/rwcommunityfund

For help with applications please contact [email protected]