The Government has announced that it is looking for innovative solutions to tackle the world-wide problem of plastic packaging. It is making £7m available from its Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund for research and development projects which can ‘significantly impact’ the targets set by the 2025 UK Plastic Pact.
These targets are:
1. Eliminate problematic or unnecessary single-use packaging through redesign, innovation or alternative (reuse) delivery model.
2. 100% of plastics packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable.
3. 70% of plastics packaging effectively recycled or composted.
4. 30% average recycled content across all plastic packaging.
(source: https://wrap.org.uk/taking-action/plastic-packaging/the-uk-plastics-pact#)
The £7m funding will be awarded by Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, from the Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging Programme.
Any proposal must:
• improve the sustainability of the plastic packaging supply chain
• make a significant contribution towards delivering the targets of the UK Plastics Pact
• utilise at-scale innovation in design, technology, processes, business models, supply chains or data for plastic packaging
• embed a whole systems approach to plastic packaging sustainability, considering environmental, economic, and social factors
This is a competitive process and the competition closes at 11am UK time on 8 September.
Project size
This competition will award grants from £200,000 to £4 million per project.
Your project
Your project must:
• claim a grant between £200,000 and £4 million
• start in early 2022
• end by 31 March 2025
• last between 12 and 36 months
You will not be awarded funding if you have:
• failed to exploit a previously funded project
• an overdue independent accountant’s report
• failed to comply with grant terms and conditions
For industrial research projects, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of:
• up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation
• up to 60% if you are a medium-sized organisation
• up to 50% if you are a large organisation
For experimental development projects which are nearer to market, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of:
• up to 45% if you are a micro or small organisation
• up to 35% if you are a medium-sized organisation
• up to 25% if you are a large organisation
Projects must be able to demonstrate that their innovative concept will lead to improved packaging recycling or re-use, compared to existing re-use and recycling concepts of the same capacity. These include types which may otherwise be constructed without the grant, should an existing competitive concept exist.
For more information:
Home page:
https://apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk/competition/934/overview
Page with guidance on how to apply:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/innovation-apply-for-a-funding-award#applying-for-a-competition-on-the-innovation-funding-service
