Cash boost for plastic and textile recycling ideas

Innovators are being urged to bid for UK Government grants that could result in smarter recycling of textiles and plastic packaging.

The grants, managed by the charity WRAP, are part of a £18 million (EUR 20 million) ‘resource action find’ launched by the environment department in May with the aim of increasing reprocessing infrastructure.

Applicants are able to apply for grants of between £200 000 and £1m for initiatives dealing with packaging and textiles up to a total of £4.7m. Specifically, the plastics grant will support the recycling of plastic packaging such as pots, tubs and trays, and films and pouches.

‘Public alarm’

Peter Maddox, director at WRAP, announced the grants at the national Resourcing the Future conference in London. He said: ‘There is a growing public alarm about the impact of plastic and textiles on our planet. To really tackle this, we have to shift from the prevailing “make, use and dispose” culture to a more sustainable one in which we keep resources in use as many times as human ingenuity can conceive.

‘Modernisation is key to making this happen and I am delighted that this significant amount of money is being made available to unlock and enable that process. I’m really excited to see what the applicants will bring to the table.’