The Federal Government is investing $77.9 million in new waste and recycling infrastructure.
The new investments will further support waste reduction efforts, minuting the impact on the environment, as well as to create jobs and grow the economy.
$67 million will be invested directly into new organic and garden waste initiatives, hoping to divert the 3.4 million tonnes of landfill into productive uses.
The investment will also see the inception of the ‘Food Waste for Healthy Soils Fund’, which aims at tuning organic material into agricultural soils.
The fund is estimated to generate more than $401 million as well as create up to 2,700 additional jobs.
$5 million will be allocated to support small and medium businesses to adopt the Australasian Recycling Label, with a further $5.9 million being allocated for additional investments to reduce waste and increase resource recovery.
According to Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association of Australia CEO Gayle Sloan, the funding will have numerous positive and far-reaching outcomes – from boosting landfill diversion and in turn, driving carbon emissions down, to beneficial reuse within the agricultural sector, allowing it to grow more food.
“There is also a significant piece of the food chain puzzle that we are optimistic the federal government will turn its eye to, that is the avoidance of food waste in the first instance, which is the top priority of the waste hierarchy and is aligned to our national target to half food waste by 2030,” Sloan said.
“As our industry continues to drive circularity by investing in our capacity, capability and technology, we are also excited by the prospect of more end markets coming to the fore for the recycled materials that we produce, particularly with the $15.2 billion infrastructure spend in the budget.
“As all governments start to push forward in their road, rail and community building activities across the country, we’d urge them to look at how they can maximise the use of Australian recycled material in their projects.”
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