A £4.5 million fund has been created to encourage businesses to improve their supply chains with the aim of reducing their environmental impact and reliance on certain raw materials.

The Technology Strategy Board, part of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, has set up the initiative to prompt businesses to reduce their reliance on key raw materials or reduce their impact on the environment. Businesses will be able to apply for up to £500,000 in funding for making improvements throughout their supply chains.

The Technology Strategy Board set out four approaches that it would like businesses to use to achieve the goals: substituting materials for environmentally friendly alternatives; recycling, re-manufacturing or reusing materials; decreasing the total mass of material used per unit; and reducing the amount of energy used in production.

The competition opens on 3rd October 2011.