Community Waste Grant for Surrey Organisations
Surrey County Council has launched a Community Waste Grant to help develop or create waste reduction initiatives across Surrey.
It’s rare to find something we all unanimously agree on these days; but preventing and reducing waste is about as close as we get to consensus. Whether we’ve grown up with parents of a ‘wartime mentality’ where wasting food or supplies was unthinkable, or we don’t want rubbish ending up in our oceans, or because we understand the impact that waste reduction can have on tackling climate change, we’re generally unified in reducing waste.
But the average person significantly over-estimates the impact of recycling. Across a large survey averaging UK residents beliefs on the most impactful ways to tackle climate change, recycling came in at number 1; it’s actually the 60th most impactful of the options provided!
To truly reduce waste in an impactful way, we need to understand how we as residents, businesses and society at large begin implementing the waste hierarchy in our decision making; that is avoiding creating waste in the first place, then repairing, re-using, and if there’s no other option, recycling.
Hitting the county’s waste reduction target is equivalent to every household cutting their average waste footprint by around 250kg, or 1/5 of their annual waste. This is very achievable by increasing the deployment and uptake of waste reduction schemes across Surrey. And with so many great community groups across Surrey already working on waste projects, the Greener Futures and Waste teams at SCC are providing community waste grants to help build capacity in existing Surrey waste projects, or to create something new and impactful in your area.
Details of the Surrey Community Waste Grant
Surrey County Council (SCC) has a total of £25,000 to distribute to organisations running or creating waste projects. You can apply for up to £2,500 per organisation. You will need to have an organisational bank account or be able to confirm the use of a partner legal entity’s account.
The deadline to apply is December 5th 2025.
If you’d like some inspiration and top tips from established Surrey waste projects you can join the ‘Less Waste, More Share & Repair’ webinar being run by Surrey Climate Commission on November 20th.
What Can Be Funded by the Community Waste Grant
A range of waste projects will be funded, including:
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Library of Things
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Food waste reduction (eg community fridges)
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Community composting
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Clothes repair / mending circles
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Sharing, renting or swapping schemes (baby clothes libraries, swap shops etc.)
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Upcycling events (e.g. 'trashion' shows)
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School uniform libraries
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Refill shops (only if the the organisation is non-profit)
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Capacity building such as insurance, marketing, software, training etc. (only as part of a larger project application)
More Information and Applying for Surrey’s Community Waste Grant
DOWNLOAD – Community Waste Grant Application Form
DOWNLOAD – Community Waste Grant Guidance Pack
Did You Know?
SCC currently has 2 other live grants within its Place Delivery Programme.
Note: if your organisation is applying for more than 1 of our existing grants, please consider which will be the most impactful, as we expect demand to be high and may not be able to fund you under more than 1 grant scheme.
