Nearly 700 projects, including waste reduction programmes, have received grant funding under Ireland's 2014 Local Agenda 21 Environmental Partnership Fund.

Set up to promote sustainable development by assisting small-scale, non-profit environmental projects at a local level, the fund aims to provide launch money to partnerships that raise environmental awareness, improve local sustainability, and are easily replicable.

Co-funded by local authorities and the Department for the Environment, Communities and Local Government, which is providing around €400,000 (£315,000) of the €796,000 (£627,000) scheme, the grant fund has been awarded to 697 projects across Ireland.

Successful applicants include:

• Art & Education Resource Store Ireland’s (RECREATE) Creative ReUse in the Community project – Workshops for schools and youth groups highlighting the advantages of reusing everyday materials as art material (€4,000, or £3,149);
• Louth Tidy Towns Together’s Trashion Fashion – a recycled fashion competition for secondary school students (€3,900, or £3,070);
• VOICE of Irish Concern for the Environment’s Festival Food Rescue – a food waste awareness project that seeks to provide meals made from food ‘waste’ at festivals (€2,120, or £1,669);
• GrassRoots Education’s Waste Management Workshops for primary schools (€1,250, or £984);
• Irish Peatlands Conservation Council’s Composting Waste & Biodiversity Awareness Workshops (€ 1,200, or £945);
• Carew Kincora Estate Management Group’s project to set up a recycling centre and green house in the estate in Limerick (€1,000, or £787); and
• Kilcar Tidy Towns’ Reuse, Refurbish, Re-vamp and Read me and Rethink schemes – covering: an eight-week upholstery course; the creation of an upcycling group; the installation of 12 water butts for hanging baskets; and the production of a waste and compost booklet (€600, or £472).

‘Making a real difference to their local environment’

Announcing the recipients of this year’s funding, Alan Kelly TD, Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, stated: “This scheme is an important contributor to local small-scale environmental projects. I’m delighted that my department, in conjunction with the local authorities, can help to make these projects happen and can assist the good work that is being done in communities right across the country.

“Almost 700 environmental projects are being funded through this year’s scheme, and this will help communities to make a real difference to their local environment.”

In addition to the funding provided by the department and the local authorities, the successful applicants have also raised additional funds locally, bringing the total shared partnership investment to over €1.4 million (£1.1 million).

Successful applicants will receive 50 per cent of their allocated funding up front, with the remainder paid once the project is complete (and a completion report has been returned to the relevant local authority).

Find out more about the 2014 Local Agenda 21 Environmental Partnership Fund or read the full list of successful applicants.