Grant News

The National Cup Recycling Scheme has announced that the Beyond the Bin Fund is due to re-open shortly, providing funding for UK projects developing innovative ways to increase the recycling or reuse of on-the-go paper cups. The scheme is administered by Valpak.

Funding is expected to support awareness and behaviour-change campaigns, improvements to cup collection, return and sorting infrastructure, and research addressing challenges such as recyclability, recovery rates and environmental performance. The previous round offered grants of up to £45,000, with the next round expected to offer up to £50,000.

Key points:

• UK businesses and brands, councils, universities, research bodies, startups and social enterprises can apply.
• Partnerships can apply.
• Projects should deliver practical and scalable improvements to paper cup reuse or recycling.
• Grant money can be used to cover staff time and other project delivery costs. Eligible expenditure includes project materials and equipment, communications, venue or travel expenses, data and evaluation, professional fees and reasonable project-related overheads.

The 2026 opening date and application deadline have not yet been published.

Useful Links:

Application Guidance