Applications open to bag a share up to £12,000 for community projects

14th May 2016

TESCO are inviting local community groups and good causes to apply for their share of a £12MILLION carrier bag charge fund.

The supermarket teamed up with Groundwork to launch its Bags of Help initiative, which sees grants of £12,000, £10,000 and £8,000 - all raised from the 5p bag levy – being awarded to environmental and greenspace projects.

Millions of shoppers voted in stores up and down the country for the last round of funding – with over £11.5MILLION being awarded to winning projects.

Now Tesco are urging groups to get their applications in for the next round of funding – which will run from 18 April to 3 June.

As well as applying direct, suggestions for projects can also be nominated all year around by people living locally.

All interested charities and community groups have to do is apply online at http://www.groundwork.org.uk/tescocommunityscheme or call the helpline on 0121 237 5780.

Once all the bids are in and have been shortlisted to a final three, Tesco customers will get the chance to vote in stores for which of the three finalists – and their respective environmental improvement projects – they'd like to see win the prize money.

These finalists will receive grants of £12,000, £10,000 and £8,000. Customers will be able to vote for their favourite project from early October.

Caroline Silke, Head of Charity and Local Community at Tesco said: "The first round of awards for the Bags of Help project was a fantastic success.

"More than 4,500 groups applied for funding with 1,170 projects in each of Tesco’s 390 regions up and down the UK to bagging a share of the Bags of Help fund.

"It has been wonderful to see the projects coming to life and to hear how delighted people have been with their award. We can’t wait to start handing out our second round of funding. I would urge people to get their applications in now."

Administration of the local funding is being handled by environmental improvement charity Groundwork, which specialises in supporting communities to transform local green spaces for the better.

Graham Duxbury, Groundwork UK Chief Executive, said: "It’s been a fantastic to be involved in the Bags of Help initiative helping to put something back into the local environment, transforming greenspaces and helping the community at a grass-roots level. We’d urge community groups and organisations everywhere to think seriously about how they could get involved."