$14.26 million in joint Federal and Victorian Government grant funding will give another life to 150,000 tonnes of Victoria’s food and garden waste and 30,000 tonnes of soft plastics.
Seven organic recycling projects will be funded through the Food Waste for Healthy Soils Fund, which diverts up to 3.4 million tonnes of food organic and garden organic (FOGO) waste from landfills across Australia every year.
The funding improves the quality of recycled organic products, such as compost, soil conditioners and mulches, by removing material that contaminates them. Six of the seven organic waste recycling projects are in regional areas.
The recycled food and garden waste from the facilities will boost soil quality on farms and help create up to 134 local jobs during the construction phase.
The Federal Government’s $67 million Food Waste for Healthy Soils Fund will leverage more than $171 million in total government and industry investment. The Victorian Government has co-invested $5.6 million through the Circular Economy Organics Sector Transformation Fund.
Tanya Plibersek, Minister for the Environment and Water said the new Victorian organics recycling projects will help Australia reach a national target of halving the amount of organic waste sent to landfill by 2030.
“We’re not only reducing landfill waste and greenhouse gas emissions, but we are making Victorian soils more productive.”
Lily D’Ambrosio, Victorian Minister for the Environment and Climate Action said it was good to have support in Canberra to hit a target of diverting 80 per cent of waste from landfill and help create a thriving circular economy.
The governments will also jointly invest $3 million to IQ Renew for a large recycling facility in Altona, which will recycle 30,000 tonnes of soft plastic into food grade soft plastic and washed flakes of low-density polyethylene, through the Recycling Modernisation Fund.
Australians use about 70 billion pieces of soft “scrunchable” plastics including food wrappers every year, but as little as four per cent is recycled with the rest ending up as landfill or litter.
The funding will get more recycled material into the hands of Australian manufacturers and drive the country’s circular economy.
The grant funding is part of the Victorian Government’s $515 million investment to deliver the biggest transformation and reform of Victoria’s waste and recycling system in our state’s history for a sustainable and thriving circular economy.
“We’re finding new ways to use organic waste in our parks and our paddocks, creating jobs and cutting emissions as we halve food waste by 2030.”
For more information, visit: www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/protection/waste/food-waste/food-waste-for-healthy-soils-fund or https://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/grants-funding-and-investment/
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