Plastic bags to paving tiles as aid fund starts

A SMALL charity that teaches people in Africa how to recycle plastic bags into paving tiles is to receive government aid funding as part of a drive to break the stranglehold of large organisations on the development budget.

WasteAid will be among the first 16 charities to be given cash from a pot of £4million designed to help smaller groups access money for work abroad.

The charity, based in Ashford, Kent, has been awarded just under £50,000 to train apprentices in a Gambian coastal village to turn plastic into “practical products”, such as tiles that can be used to pave roads.

Officials said it would be Gambia’s “first plastics recycling programme”.

The funding is part of the initial tranche of cash awarded from the Small Charities Challenge Fund, which was set up in response to complaints that smaller organisations were unable to secure funding from the Department for International Development – partly because of the complexity of the application processes.

In the wake of a sex abuse scandal relating to Oxfam, Baroness Nicholson a Tory peer who runs a small, Londonbased charity, said her organisation had been repeatedly turned down for funding in favour of large groups.

Penny Mordaunt, the International Development Secretary, told The Sunday Telegraph: “Small charities can be nimble and are well placed to make great connections on the ground and achieve a lasting impact. This fund will give small British charities the chance to apply for grants, so they can start new programmes or scale up projects which have already proved successful.

“This is a win for the developing world, which will benefit from their expertise.”

Of the WasteAid project, she said: “Plastic pollutes our oceans, destroys marine life and causes long-term damage to communities around the world.

“This WasteAid project is a demonstration of how plastic recycling can be a major force for good, creating jobs while saving our planet.”

The Small Charities Challenge Fund was set up under Ms Mordaunt’s predecessor, Priti Patel, who also hit out at “profiteering” bosses of big charities who receive six-figure salaries while spending foreign aid money.