NSW Waste Less, Recycle More initiative
Under NSW Government’s Waste Less, Recycle More initiative, $802 million is being invested over nine years from 2012 – 2021 to drive waste avoidance and to encourage greater recycling, organics collections, market development, deliver better management of problem wastes, accelerate and stimulate investment in waste and recycling infrastructure, and programs to tackle illegal dumping and litter.
Waste Less, Recycle More is the largest program of its kind in Australia. It is transforming waste and recycling in NSW by funding business recycling, market development, managing problem wastes, new waste infrastructure and local programs to tackle illegal dumping and litter.
Waste Less, Recycle More provides funding for the EPA to partner with local communities, councils and businesses to reduce the impacts of waste on the environment and support the growth of these sectors. As of July 2018, $407 million has been awarded in grants, education and provision of household problem waste services. This includes $187 million in non-contestable funding for local councils and $220 million funding for 1160 projects.
A few current programs that open to the communities include:
Circulate, NSW EPA Industrial Ecology Program
Circulate - Industrial Ecology Program supports projects that will recover materials that would otherwise be sent to landfill (or plastic, mixed paper and cardboard stockpiled as a result of commodity price changes due to the China National Sword Policy), to be used as feedstock for other commercial, industrial or construction processes.
The grant is open till 30 October 2019. Go to the EPA website to learn the details about this program https://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/working-together/grants/business-recycling/circulate-grant
Civil Construction Market Program grants
The Civil Construction Market Program provides grants to local government, consultants, contractors and waste service providers who can divert construction and demolition (C&D) waste from landfill, and post-consumer recyclate from materials recovery facilities (MRFs) through reuse, recycling and industrial ecology projects in the NSW civil construction sector. A total of $2.5million is available for projects until exhausted or until June 2020. Individual grants can apply for up to $250,000.
More details are available at the EPA website: https://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/working-together/grants/business-recycling/civil-construction-market-program-grants
Bin Trim Rebates
Businesses with up to 400 full time equivalent employees, and facility managers and small-scale recyclers responsible for managing the waste of small to medium-sized businesses can apply rebates of between $1000 and $50,000 covering up to 50% of the capital cost of recycling equipment. Contact a Bin Trim assessor to get a free waste assessment. The Bin Trim assessor can determine whether your business is eligible for a rebate based on the contents of your waste bin.
Find more details from the EPA website: https://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/working-together/grants/business-recycling/bin-trim-rebates-program
Love food, hate waste education program
Love Food Hate Waste grants support eligible organisations to deliver projects that help households or businesses reduce the amount of edible food they waste.
Stream 3 – Love Food Communities is currently open and will close on 19 November 2018 . Grants of up to $250,000 for up to five NSW towns, cities or regions to plan and deliver a two-year whole-of-city approach to food waste prevention.
Have Your Say
The NSW EPA will present the policy at the upcoming Zero Waste Forum in Sydney on Friday 16th November, which will give attendees the opportunity to ask questions, and engage in a discussion and development workshop following the presentation. Tickets are still available for the event, which will feature speakers such as Martin Herbst (CEO, Gumtree), Mal Williams (Zero Waste International Trust), Mike Ritchie (MRA Consulting) discussing integral elements of the drivers of a Circular Economy.
Have your say online here by 25 November 2018.
For those that are unable to attend the forum, there will also be an information session from 9:30AM to 11:00AM on Tuesday November 20, 2018 in Sydney CBD. You can register for the event via https://fs4.formsite.com/nswepa/ce-information-session/index.html