For the third year in a row, the Rotary Club of Peterborough is rewarding environmental innovators with financial support for local projects through the Rotary Environmental Innovators Fund (REIF).
During its regular meeting on Monday afternoon (May 26) at McDonnel Street Activity Centre, Rotary announced it is awarding a total of $11,000 to five innovative local environmental projects that range from transforming unrecyclable waste plastic into new items to testing new wind turbine technology.
Rotary launched REIF in late 2022 with a goal to promote environmental awareness, sustainability, and remediation by supporting new environmental initiatives in the Peterborough area.
Since then, the fund has awarded more than $30,000 for projects in the areas of biodiversity, water and wastewater technologies, climate change, sustainable living, pollution, waster disposal, and more.
Applications for REIF funds are judged based on how they might impact the local climate and environment, how innovative the project is compared to existing solutions, the practicality of the project, expected benefits, and how the funds would be used.
This year, three projects were awarded $3,000 each for their innovative approach and high potential for impact, and two projects received runner-up awards of $1,000 each in recognition of innovation, strong community roots, and environmental promise.
Wild Rock Outfitters and Kawartha Land Trust received $3,000 for their Native Plant Horticulture for Invasive Species Control project, which will target invasive dog-strangling vine and aim to establish native plant alternatives with horticultural or agricultural uses to restore local ecosystems and support monarch butterfly habitats.
Kawartha Land Trust is one of the beneficiaries of the ComPassion Project, initiated by Wild Rock Outfitters co-founder Kieran Andrews with support from the Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough.
Woodleigh Farms in Cavan received $3,000 for its Catching Carbon project, in which waste wood is transformed into carbon-sequestering biochar, which can be used to improve soil quality and reduce the need for fertilizer.
SanoStrategy Corporation received $3,000 for its Clean Energy Generation project, which will test the company’s new wind turbine technology with the goal of providing clean, efficient, and accessible wind energy to farmers and remote communities.
GreenUP received $1,000 for its Taproots for Tomorrow project, which will create air prune bed prototypes — a raised planting bed with a mesh bottom that is elevated off the ground — to grow native trees and shrubs with long taproots, such as hickories and pawpaws.
Clean Up Peterborough founder Steve Paul received $1,000 for his Second Nature Studio project, a grassroots microfacility that would conduct research and development to transform local polyvinyl chloride and polypropylene plastic waste, which is generally not recycled, into creative durable goods while also offering sustainability education and community empowerment. The REIF grant will be used to purchase the project’s first plastic shredder.
