Funding boosts for five environmental initiatives in Northampton from council's waste collector

Five charitable and community-led environmental initiatives in Northampton have received a funding boost from the council's recycling and waste collector.

Veolia's EnviroGrant scheme launched in July and invited applications for funding up to £1,000 each to support efforts in improving or protecting the environment.

In total, 14 charities, schools, sports clubs and community groups asked for grants - the successful five includes a Gurdwara's recycling project, garden renovations and an anti-fly-tipping initiative.

Veolia general manager Shaun Donohue said: “Every day Veolia collects, sorts and reprocesses thousands of tonnes of recycling and waste materials.

"The work we do plays a major role in making Northampton more sustainable. However, to make a real environmental difference to local communities, we need to work in partnership with them.

“We are pleased to support five local community groups with much-needed EnviroGrant funding.

"The amazing projects we’ve awarded will help to improve the environment in their own unique ways, and we look forward to seeing their achievements in the coming months.

"We also hope that more community groups will be empowered to apply for a grant next year.”

Ramgarhia Board Northampton’s Go Greener project that will encourage members to see the benefits of recycling.

The project aims to educate the community on how food waste can be recycled into compost, the team will dedicate an area for growing beds where members will grow herbs and vegetables.

The McCarthy-Dixon Foundation – the funding will support their Garden Renovations for Wellbeing project that will continue to renovate disused gardens for members of the community that have been unable to do it themselves.

Whitehills Primary School’s restoration of pond area project aims to bring the pond area back into use for children's enjoyment and education.

The Happy You Project aims to install platers to stop or deter fly-tipping in the Boot and Shoe Quarter as well as re-giving a nice and friendly environment for people living in the area.

The Friends of NLive Radio are looking to raise awareness of the benefits of recycling and to educate the community via a variety of on-air programmes, advertising and content broadcasting.

Northampton Borough Council cabinet member for environment Mike Hallam said: “Northampton is blessed to have a lot of fantastic charities and community groups who are passionate about protecting and improving our environment.

“Allocating money from the EnviroGrant is always a difficult task but we are extremely pleased to be supporting five organisations this year, as they continue their brilliant work for the benefit of our local environment and communities.”

The EnviroGrant scheme opens for applications in April each year.

Other Northampton funding schemes are available, including Idverde’s Community Investment Fund that is open for applications all year round.