The Regional District of Nanaimo is now accepting applications from non-profit organizations to access up to $300,00 for Zero Waste Recycling Funding until Oct. 3.
According to manager of solid waste services, Ben Routledge, the program is designed to fund projects that will fall within the higher tiers of the zero-waste hierarchy and support their goal of diverting 90 per cent of waste from the landfill by 2030.
Routledge says the program will provide funding to allow non-profit organizations to enhance the way they deal with recycling by providing better solutions to benefit the region.
“This grant really does allow local solutions to come to the forefront that benefit our local community,” he says. “The program will target materials that are difficult to process and hard to recycle through the funding we are providing.”
Routledge says another objective of the Zero Waste Recycling Fund in the future is to reduce what is currently already being processed and turn it into recyclable material.
“We’re also looking at ways to remove barriers to recycling so we can get more material out of the landfill and into circular systems,” he says.
He says increasing circularity will increase the RDN’s ability to increase what is recycled and reduce the impact on the environment.
The RDN has set a goal to divert the majority of the landfill by 2030 and Routledge says they are on track to hit the target but in order to remain on target it will have to be done in several phases.
“The 90 per cent goal is achieved through a few different programs, one of which is education and funding initiatives like this grant program,” he says. “The other aspect to helping this goal are two critical bylaws.”
Routledge says he gives a lot of credit to residents in the district for their recycling efforts and this will continue to keep not just the regional district, but Vancouver Island, green and eco-friendly.
