Cabinet Secretary Announces Initiative at Conference : Funding for Circular Economy Projects in Scotland

The Circular Economy investment fund has been launched in Scotland by the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change, Environment and Land Reform Roseanna to accelerate the shift to a circular economy within their regions.

As keynote speaker at the Scottish Resources Conference Cunningham outlined the ‘circular regions’ funding call from Zero Waste Scotland, which is planned to assist enterprise networks identify and implement innovative circular economy ideas from small or medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

The regional opportunity is part of an £18 million circular economy investment programme being managed by Zero Waste Scotland using funding from the Scottish Government and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Funding is available to local consortiums where the lead partner is classed as a small or medium sized enterprise. Applicants can bid for funding for two separate stages: (1) to identify business opportunities locally and (2) to work to develop those opportunities with local businesses and supporting them through to full implementation.

Highlighting examples, Iain Gulland, chief executive of Zero Waste Scotland said: “This targeted call builds on a pilot initiative last year with Glasgow Chamber of Commerce which completed a ‘circle scan’ of the regional economy to identify potential business growth opportunities, including a collaboration with Jaw Brew, an independent craft brewery and local bakery Aulds to develop a beer made by using waste bread.

“The project has proven very successful to date and other cities and areas have expressed an interest in replicating this approach,” he added.

“This approach for regional SMEs will accelerate a Circular Economy throughout Scotland by helping businesses be resource efficient and by opening up collaboration opportunities,” .concluded Gulland

Grants available under the Circular Economy Investment Fund are for a minimum of £20,000 and a maximum of £1 million.

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