About us
Welcome to the Circular Economy Business Innovation Centre, also known as CEBIC (pronounced 'see-bik').
Designing out waste to accelerate the transition to a circular economy
In February 2020, the Victorian Government released its circular economy policy, Recycling Victoria – A new economy. The circular economy policy recognises that Victorian businesses are central in the transition to a circular economy.
CEBIC is one of the key actions from the circular economy policy that aims to improve business productivity and reduce waste.
We contribute to 2 ambitious targets:
- Cut total waste generation in Victoria by 15% per capita by 2030.
- Halve Australia’s food waste by 2030.
Our role is to invest in and support businesses and organisations in Victoria to ‘go circular’. This involves transforming how they use resources, adopting innovative approaches to sustainability, and developing future-proof models that design out waste.
What we do
We facilitate collaboration among businesses, governments, research organisations, and industry bodies across supply chains and sectors to foster the development and implementation of innovative solutions. Our aim is to empower them to:
- implement circular economy approaches
- improve resource efficiency
- develop new products and services
- tap into new markets
- generate new revenue streams
- connect with opportunities to collaborate.
Those who we support are leading the way with new approaches to business models and sustainability solutions that are smarter, more cost-effective, and future-ready.
We prioritise circular outcomes at the top of the waste hierarchy: rethink, reduce, reuse, repair and refurbish. This is because there are other Victorian Government programs specifically dedicated to recycling.
We support businesses to implement the 3 principles of a circular economy, which are all driven by design:
- Eliminate waste and pollution.
- Keep products or materials in use, at their highest value, for as long as possible.
- Regenerate nature.
By innovating to avoid or design out waste, Victorian businesses and industries can gain a competitive edge – boosting productivity and future-proofing our economy as we cut waste to landfill and reduce emissions to meet our target of net zero emissions by 2045.
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Our events and networking opportunities showcase inspirational examples, facilitate new connections, and foster collaboration. By promoting circular economy events hosted by other organisations, we amplify the impact on the circular economy across Victoria.
As our collaboration partner, Planet Ark’s Australian Circular Economy (ACE) Hub provides CEBIC’s network with access to an online community dedicated to the circular economy. To find out more, visit the ACE Hub portal.
For more information, view our Events page.
To promote your own circular economy event, email us at cebic@sustainability.vic.gov.au.
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Our 2 grant funds, the Circular Economy Innovation Fund and Circular Economy Business Support Fund, have supported businesses and collaborative partnerships to identify, design, and implement innovative circular economy solutions.
For more information, visit our Grants and funding and Funded projects pages.
Our team is available to meet with you online to discuss your business or initiative and provide advice or feedback.
To schedule a meeting with one of our team members, visit Bookings.
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We share research and best-practice insights developed by us or our grant recipients. Additionally, we develop case studies to highlight ‘what works’.
For more information, view our Research reports and Case studies.
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Our monthly newsletter showcases the latest news, events, research, and other activities related to the circular economy. Our aim is to inform and inspire.
To subscribe and read the latest and previous issues, visit the Newsletter page.
Our expert advisory group
We are supported by an expert advisory group known as the Circular Economy Innovation Advisory Committee. The group consists of business and academic leaders who provide strategic advice on industry needs and priorities.
Learn more about the expert advisory group.
Our partnerships and collaborations
We create and participate in partnerships and collaborations with other organisations via events and research projects. This supports and accelerates business innovation in Victoria.
Learn more about our partnerships and collaborative projects.
Our circular economy
The Victorian Government’s circular economy policy, Recycling Victoria: a new economy, established a vision for a circular economy that continually seeks to reduce the environmental impacts of production and consumption, while enabling economic growth through productive use of natural resources.
It allows us to avoid waste with good design and effective recovery of materials that can be reused. It promotes more efficient business models that encourage intense and efficient product use, such as sharing products between multiple users, or supplying a product as a service that includes maintenance, repair and disposal. The value we obtain from the resources used to create goods and services increases.
It transforms our linear economy mindset – take, use and throw away – and fosters innovation and productivity that invigorates existing businesses and creates new ones, delivering more jobs, more growth and more social inclusion to the local, regional, state and global economies.
