Deadline: 11 March 2020
The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Swedish EPA) announces an opportunity for funding of development projects on sustainable plastic use and sound management of plastic waste in the BRIICS countries.
Unsustainable plastic use and poor management of plastic waste is associated with environmental problems of global concern – plastic litter in the marine and terrestrial environment, environmental pollution from micro plastics and unsustainable use of nature’s resources.
Swedish EPA aims to reach a more sustainable plastic use and a sound management of plastic waste in line with global conventions such as the Basel convention and regional sea conventions. The grants are directed to initiatives in the so called BRIICS-countries (Brazil, Russia, Indonesia, India, China and South Africa).
Objectives
More specifically, the projects need to contribute to at least one of the following objectives:
- Prevent or reduce the use of plastic products and/or plastic packaging
- Accelerate the transition towards a circular plastic economy
- Prevent plastic pollution from land-based sources.
Examples on projects that can be supported by the grant:
- Long-lasting capacity building projects that target relevant private stakeholders as well as public policy makers and officials that are mandated to influence plastic management, waste management and littering.
- Projects to promote collaboration by actors in different parts of the value chain.
- Pilot projects to test new techniques, designs and business models.
- Pilot projects to improve waste infrastructure and reduce littering.
- Projects aimed at developing policy instruments and policy documents that can be used by industry associations and/or national or regional authorities.
- Projects aimed at collection and analysis of information to identify and close knowledge gap’s on plastic and plastic waste on regional and national level.
The Foundation welcomes projects in which at least one project partner is located in Sweden, this is however not a requirement for the grant.
Funding Information
- The lower application limit for individual projects is USD 30,000. Upper limit per grant is USD 200,000.
- The total budget for the announcement is approximately USD 850,000.
- The funding may be used to cover new investment costs but only for the depreciation value during the project time frame.
- The project cannot start earlier than April 20th 2020 and must be completed by 19th of April 2021.
Eligibility Criteria
- The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency can provide full cost coverage for noncommercial activities. This includes projects carried out by non-profit organisations, public organisations, universities and research institutes.
- Projects carried out by private companies can under certain conditions be considered as non-economic activities, such as if carried out by a consultant.
- This generally applies to projects:
- that does not interfere with competition on the open market
- that generate results that are publicly available
- that do not contribute to sales income
Evaluation Criteria
Project applications are assessed based on the following grant evaluation criteria:
- Potential to contribute to the objectives for the grant:
- Prevent or reduce the use of plastic products
- Accelerate the transition towards a circular plastic economy
- Prevent plastic pollution from land-based sources
- Potential short- and long-term positive effects on plastic use and plastic waste management:
- Expected effects in a 5-year time frame?
- Expected effects after more than 5 years?
- Potential for the project to have wide spread positive effects on plastic use and plastic waste management:
- Can the project set a positive example that spread to other regions and countries?
- Will the results be useful for a wide range of stakeholders?
- Will the project have a high strategic impact at the national level?
- Will the project support implementation of global conventions such as the Basel convention and regional sea conventions?
- Project implementation and project partners:
- The project group’s competence to carry out the project
- Project organisations experience in carrying out similar types of projects
- Access to the necessary resources to carry out the project
- Benefit in relation to the cost of the project
- Projects ability to reduce environmental impact during the project time frame
- Partnership with at least one Swedish authority, business, organisation, research institution or university
How to Apply
- Please fill in the attached application form and budget template and send it at the address given on the website. All information needed to assess the project must be included in the application form.
- Mark the application with “Application for international plastic project (Name Organization and Country)”.
- The Swedish EPA plans to announce a decision on grants by 17th of April 2020.
For more information, visit http://www.swedishepa.se/Guidance/Grants/sustainable-plastic-use/