Funding applications encouraged for smart tracking of waste

Up to £40,000 is to be invested by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs into projects that make use of digital technology to track the way that waste moves through the UK economy. The investment represents one aspect of the UK government’s GovTech Catalyst project, which aims to give businesses incentives to create intelligent solutions to challenges in the public sector.

Over 200 million tonnes of waste per year is generated in the UK, according to the most recent report on the total amount of waste generation, and the methods for disposing of that waste are often duplicated and fragmented. The Department wants to find out more information about the waste that is being generated as well as the methods for its handling and disposal in order gain the most value from its resources, reduce damage to the environment, and improve the country’s productivity.

The competition will be funded under the Small Business Research Initiative, which tries to bring government and businesses together in order to find innovative solutions to the kind of challenges that are faced by the public sector. Projects should come up with new ideas to track the individual movements of waste, including the point of collection or generation, who the waste is handled by, and where and how it is treated.

The competition begins on 11 June, with the first phase being for contracts to examine the feasibility of new ideas for up to £80,000, with up to £1m at stake to develop and test prototypes of the best ideas in Phase 2.