The Victorian Government is helping to turn food and garden organic waste collected through kerbside recycling into high quality organic material that will help secure the future of Victorian agriculture and create a more sustainable economy.
Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio announced $10.2 million towards the Recycling Victoria Organics Sector Transformation Fund, a two-year program that will support the recycled organics sector to reduce waste sent to landfill. Kerbside recycling reform and improved recovery of commercial and industry organic waste have resulted in a growing supply of organic waste, making it important to increase Victoria’s reprocessing capacity and improve product quality.
The fund will also support the improvement of recycled organic products, such as compost, soil blends and mulches, by removing contamination. These products are vital to Victoria’s future as they are used for intensive agriculture and to enhance local parks and gardens.
The first round of grants is open to organic processing businesses to support new or enhance existing organics processing capacity, improving capability to remove contamination and produce a higher quality product.
Over the next decade, Victoria will cut waste generation by 15 per cent and halve food and organic waste going to landfill under Recycling Victoria, the Victorian Government’s $380 million action plan and investment that is transforming the state’s recycling sector and set Victoria up for a more sustainable future.
Successful projects will be eligible for further funding under the Australian Government’s national Food Waste for Healthy Soils Fund.
Lily D’Ambrosio, Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change said the funding will help overcome contamination in organics reprocessing and increase the quality of recycled organics products to help drive market demand.
“Projects like this will help us reach the goal of halving the amount of organic waste going to landfill by 2030, while supporting jobs in the waste and recycling sector and tackling climate change.”
Mary-Anne Thomas, Minister for Agriculture said the funding is good news for farmers.
“We know that contamination is the main barrier to growing the use of recycled organics. I look forward to seeing how this improves our sustainable agriculture sector.
For more information visit: sustainability.vic.gov.au
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