Sustainable Consumption & Production Funding
for use on nwda website internal pages
The NWDA actively promotes both sustainable consumption and
production through a number of projects and programmes:
Improving Your Resource Efficiency
There is a growing market demand for sustainable good and
services. Business can make costs savings from resource efficiency
measures which cost little or nothing. Greater resource efficiency
also helps businesses against uncertainty in the supply of
materials and price volatility in global markets. Businesses can
also use their commitment to sustainable resources as a market
differentiator
The Improving Your Resource Efficiency business support service
is an opportunity for businesses in the Northwest to not only meet
the environmental compliance issues but to benefit from going
beyond them and acting in a socially and environmentally
responsible way.
Improving Your Resource Efficiency is the name of Business Link
Northwest’s environmental advice service. The service is free and
confidential, and connects the region’s businesses to a whole range
of resource efficiency support, making accessing the right kind of
support simple.
The support offered can: reduce energy, waste, water and
material costs; cut carbon emissions; access new technologies;
increase productivity; increase access supply chains and new
markets; aid eco-innovative design; enhance corporate image; reduce
the impact of your product and processes; and reduce the impact of
construction.
Grant for Improving Your Resource Efficiency
There is also a grant available to assist capital purchases that
demonstrate carbon dioxide reductions. The grants cover 50% of the
capital costs up to Eur200k. A Grant for Research & Development
is also available.
The Grant for Improving Your Resource Efficiency is a business
product funded by the NWDA and available through Business Link Northwest.
Embedding Resource Efficiency
The Environmental Business Support Programme supports Northwest
businesses to make environmental decisions about how they run their
businesses, which includes a free in-depth resource efficiency
audit.
This programme has received £6.1 million investment from the
NWDA and has so far helped 2,200 businesses improve their resource
efficiency, identifying £32 million of potential cost savings. So
far, those businesses have implemented £6.5 million of those cost
savings.
The audit is carried out on-site by a resource efficiency expert
to identify any cost and materials savings and follow-up advice on
how to implement any recommendations.
- The Environmental Business Support Programme is available
through Business Link
Northwest, under the banner Improving Your Resource
Efficiency.
Helping Business Eco-Innovate
The Northwest Eco-Innovation Programme plans to work with 420
businesses in the region and assist them to manufacture products
with reduced environmental impact by virtue of their design, raw
materials, manufacture, use, reuse, application and ultimate
disposal.
Support is provided through: mentoring through ideas selection,
evaluation, validation, design, development and testing, and
planning; graduate placement; applied research and development; and
incubation. The programme aims to: reduce annual carbon dioxide
emissions by 12,000 tonnes; create 240 environmental products; and
160 businesses with improved performance.
- The Eco-Innovation Programme is available through Business Link Northwest, under
the banner Improving Your Resource Efficiency.
Specialist Support for Construction Companies
The Northwest Construction Knowledge Hub exists to improve
sustainable development skills and knowledge within construction
sector SMEs and to help those companies develop practices that
reduce environmental impact, while assisting businesses to become
more profitable, more productive and economically stable.
Support is provided through: demonstration projects; development
of key performance indicators and benchmarking; awareness raising;
and specialist one-to-one business support. The programme aims to:
reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions and reduce waste to
landfill, as well as creating and safeguarding jobs.
- The Construction Knowledge Hub is available through Business Link Northwest, under
the banner Improving Your Resource Efficiency.
Help With Waste, Recycling and Buying Recycled
The Northwest Waste Technology Virtual Centre of Excellence II
project coordinates and delivers activities to support development
of the waste management, recycling and technology industries within
the Northwest.
The programme - one of a number of projects hosted by Envirolink
Northwest - aims to provide technical support to the
region’s recycling and waste sectors. Support is provided through
provision of technical advice, partnership working and
referrals
Following on from the first phase of the project, which was
completed in March 2009, this second phase is running from 2009
until 2012.
- The Waste Technology Virtual Centre of Excellence II is
available through Business Link
Northwest, under the banner Improving Your Resource
Efficiency.