Norwich Business Improvement District (BID) has launched a new, city-wide upcycling project for Norwich.
The aim of this three-year project is to establish a working circular economy for the city; looking at the waste that businesses are producing and repurposing that waste into resources for the local community.
The European-wide ‘Interreg 2 Seas’ project will see Norwich BID work with businesses to upcycle 20% of their waste.
The programme will run over three years and aims to support SMEs in reducing their running costs by handling and transforming their waste into new resources for the community.
“As Norwich enters its next chapter, we face a different future to the one we could have expected at the beginning of this year,” Norwich BID says.
We want to look at how waste from our SME’s can be upcycled and put to good use elsewhere in the community.
“As the city changes, budgets are squeezed and sustainability becomes an ever more pressing issue, we want to look at how Norwich can lead the way in establishing its own circular economy.
“We want to look at how waste from our SME’s can be upcycled and put to good use elsewhere in the community.”
The project will work in three phases. The first will see the BID interview businesses to establish what would make it easier for them to participate in the project, and what challenges they might face when it comes to re-purposing their waste.
The second phase of the project will take place in the autumn until early 2021 and will analyse the types of waste offloaded by the business.
The third phase in 2022/23 will see methods put in place to continue this in the future.
Stefan Gurney, executive director of Norwich BID, said: “This project is the first of its kind here in Norwich, and has ambitious targets for the future.
“Over the next three years, we want to help our businesses create new systems for waste management that will keep resources working within the community for years to come.”