Opportunity for Businesses and Innovators in Fingal to apply for the 2020 Green Enterprise: Innovation for a Circular Economy

This is an opportunity for businesses and innovators in Fingal to access €600,000 of funding, with a maximum grant of €100,000 for any one project, to develop and demonstrate business-ready solutions for the circular economy in partnership with Fingal County Council.

Expressions of interest are available on the Council’s website at www.fingal.ie. You can find the necessary forms here 2020 Green Enterprise Expression of Interest and when completed these should be sent to %65%[email protected] " rel="nofollow"> [email protected] by 17.00 hours on Friday 17th July 2020.

The Mayor of Fingal, Cllr. David Healy said: “As we look to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic we will need innovations and support from the business community to help everyone in Fingal. At the same time, with the even greater challenge of transitioning to a decarbonised sustainable economy, we need to rethink how we use resources. Businesses will be at the core of this transition and Fingal County Council encourages businesses and innovators to engage with the challenges and opportunities of the circular economy.”

The National Waste Prevention Programme (NWPP) is an initiative to enhance competitiveness and reduce business costs by delivering programmes which stimulate resource efficiency i.e. reducing cost by re-using and re-purposing materials already in use, in the circular economy. The EPA’s Green Enterprise: Innovation for a Circular Economy programmes supports the development of new approaches to the circular economy. The EPA’s 2020 Call focuses on business innovation under the following themes:

1. Food Waste
2. Construction & Demolition Waste
3. Plastics
4. Resources & raw materials (electrical & electronic equipment, textiles, furniture)

The 2020 Call does not cover innovations in energy, mobility, water systems as these are covered under other initiatives.

The circular economy aims to make us less reliant on raw materials imported from abroad and move towards sustainable materials management and a low carbon economy, both of which are priorities for Fingal County Council in its Climate Change Action Plan.

Emer O’Gorman, Director of Economic Enterprise & Tourism at Fingal County Council, said: “This is a great opportunity for businesses to work alongside Fingal County Council to re-orientate into a circular economy business model which will help to achieve the Council’s Corporate Circular Economy and Sustainable Business objectives. As we work to help the local economy to recover after the Covid-19 pandemic now is a good time to look to introduce innovative ideas to improve the circular economy.”

Fingal County Council encourages businesses and innovators to answer the EPA’s call to investigate new ways to add value and use to materials, products and assets while designing out waste as we transform how we live, work and consume goods/materials into a more sustainable model in Fingal and in particular to support the Shop Local concept which has demonstrated its importance during the recent public health restrictions.

Ethna Felten, Director of Environment & Climate Action at Fingal County Council, said: “As part of the Climate Action Plan for Fingal County Council the circular economy seeks to make Fingal less reliant on imported raw materials by reusing the materials that are already in use while also reducing our carbon emissions which is a key aim of our Climate Action plan.”

If you have an idea for eco-design, manufacture or use of products or which repurposes, refurbishes, repairs or reuses products or extends the life of products or reduces waste generation in material products Fingal County Council encourages you to apply for funding under the EPA’s calls for Green Enterprise Projects. Fingal County Council now invites expressions of interest from businesses and innovators who are:

• Interested in developing projects related to the above themes which can be completed in no more than 24 months
• Willing to be the lead applicant in respect of the project
• Interested in working with the Council as a partner on a project, with the Council taking on a role in relation to promotion of the project under the Council’s Corporate Circular Economy and Sustainable Business objectives and providing support on communications, staff participation, hosting of workshops, contribution of local knowledge and expertise from FCC staff, use of open data. Please note that FCC will not provide co-funding of any project under this call.

Check out the EPA’s website www.epa.ie for more information and register on the EPA’s online application system SmartSimple before the deadline for submissions on the 14th August 2020. User guides and video tutorials are available at https://epa.smartsimple.ie