WRAP Secures Funding for Two New Projects

Two new retail projects focusing on glass containers and plastic carrier bags are the latest to receive grants from a funding program created by the Waste & Resources Action Programme.

WRAP’s £8m Waste Minimisation Innovation Fund was launched last November to support research and development projects that focus on reducing the amount of retail packaging and food waste.

The latest two awards bring the total number of projects approved by the Fund to seven. If the projects are successful and the results widely adopted in the UK, the total potential reduction in household waste across all seven projects is estimated to be 197,000 metric tons.

WRAP will provide £651,704 in funding to the Faraday Packaging Partnership, which aims to reduce the amount of glass being disposed of by consumers by testing the manufacture of lighter glass bottles and jars. Through the project Britvic, Coors Brewers and Unicheq will work together, along with trade organization British Glass and its technical arm Glass Technology Services.

Walter Lewis, managing director of the Faraday Packaging Partnership, said: “We are very excited to be leading one of WRAP’s Innovation Fund projects and to be working with a group of world-class experts to deliver the project’s objectives. An excellent start has been made and we look forward to participating in this and future potential projects.”

If successful, the project could reduce the amount of glass in household waste by 100,000 metric tons.

In the second project, ASDA Stores Ltd and Ecomedia Ltd have joined to research the viability of changing the way in which carrier bags are used by ASDA customers.

This project, awarded £133,405 in WRAP funding, has the potential to affect the way in which carrier bags are used by such a degree that a considerable reduction in their use is estimated. If replicated across the retail sector, this could cut household waste by up to 40,000 metric tons.