Three new grants from the Federal Government will aim to increase recycling of components in motor vehicles, commercial furniture and resilient floor coverings.
The Federal Government will provide $1 million to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) to promote recycling in Australia’s waste vehicles.
A further $1 million in support will be provided to the Australasian Furnishings Association (AFA) to design out waste in commercial furniture. A $1 million grant to the Australasian Resilient Flooring Association (ARFA) will be used to develop a national plan to divert used floor coverings such as those made from vinyl, linoleum and rubber from landfill and process them into new products.
All three investments were made through the National Product Stewardship Investment Fund. To date the fund has supported the development or expansion of 24 product stewardship schemes.
Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction and Environmental Management Trevor Evans said that valuable materials— such as textiles, plastics, and electronic components— that should be recycled, are sometimes sent to landfill.
“FCAI will partner with the Motor Trades Association of Australia to lead the whole vehicle supply chain in finding ways to take this waste and recycle it,” he said.
“While most of our commercial furniture is manufactured overseas, often the designs are Australian. If we get the design right, we can significantly reduce the 95 per cent of commercial furniture which currently ends up in landfill. This will improve the sustainability of offshore manufacturing and improve stewardship outcomes for these products.”
“The waste export ban has encouraged industry to take greater responsibility for their products, meaning end of life flooring will be reprocessed into new products or commodities before being exported.”
For more information on the National Product Stewardship Investment Fund, click here.
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