Recycling Victoria Business Support Fund – Stream 1: Identification grants – Funded projects

Stream 1 of the Recycling Victoria Business Support Fund supports:

• businesses
• charities and other not-for-profit organisations
• industry groups and consultants as either individuals or within a collaborative partnership

to investigate how to adapt and apply circular economy business opportunities and approaches across one, or multiple businesses.

These grants are funded through the Recycling Victoria policy.

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Fund recipients

Round 1

Announcement date: 15 July 2021

Ten recommended projects received a total of $1.35 million to identify and develop new circular economy business models, products, services, and stewardship schemes.

These diverse projects will create business-led solutions for our circular economy and focus on waste prevention, reuse, repair, remanufacture, and recycling. They will support Victorian businesses to identify their next steps to become more sustainable and to create value for our environment, society and economy.

Rocket Seeder

Delivering an accelerator program for 15 businesses and start-ups to create successful and sustainable new models that tackle food waste and kick-start a circular economy in Victorias food industry.

Funding: $200,000

Australian Toy Association

Mapping the movement of toys and their materials through the Victorian and Australian economy and developing local solutions to improve sustainability in our toys during use and end-of-life phases.

Funding: $110,534

Coreo

Working to understand, measure and map how materials flow through complex mixed-use corporate and retail precincts in Victoria, centred on the QV precinct, with the intention to improve the circularity of these material flows in use and end-of-life.

Project partners: Dexus

Funding: $135,000

Select Harvests

Developing a scalable and commercial solution to upcycle 55,000 tonnes of almond hull and shell waste into an organic fertiliser to supplement use of inorganic fertilisers on almond orchards in the Murray-Darling basin.

Funding: $193,400

Mortar Art

Develop, document and pilot a reusable formwork system using recycled materials and the open source ‘Precious Plastic Brick’, concluding with the construction of a small building. The project aims to create an alternative to single-use timber formwork, which generates an estimated 25,000 tonnes of timber waste in Victoria annually.

Funding: $70,000

Monash University

Design and deliver a series of seminars and workshops with manufacturing businesses in South East Melbourne to enhance their capabilities to adopt circular economy models and practices that create efficiency and reduce waste.

Project partners: South East Melbourne Manufacturers Alliance

Funding: $99,922

Innovative Mechatronics Group

Developing a new circular economy business model to create Australia’s first scalable reuse and recycling program for retired lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles. The project will involve feasibility studies, pilot projects and business case development for the new service, which is expected to launch in 2022.

Funding: $200,000

Tyre Stewardship Australia

Conducting research, design and trials to develop economically viable solutions for up to 28,000 tonnes of tyres reaching end-of-life in regional Victoria each year. The project aims to contribute to our circular economy by increasing tyre recycling and reducing stockpiling and landfilling.

Project partners: Equilibrium OMG

Funding: $80,000

Dairy Australia

This project will create Australia's first food waste action plan for our dairy sector. It will quantify volumes and composition of dairy waste and will develop solutions to reduce dairy waste in processing and households, identifying new products, services and business models to establish our circular dairy sector.

Project partners: Fight Food Waste Limited, Australian Dairy Products Federation, Dairy Manufacturers Sustainability Council

Funding: $180,000

Kmart

This project will map material flows and develop solutions to reduce the environmental impact of clothing and to contribute to the development of a new National Product Stewardship scheme. The project will consider all stages of the clothing value chain and explore circular solutions in design, production, use and end-of-life.

Funding: $80,000

Stream 2: Implementation grants

Run in parallel to Stream 1, the Stream 2: Implementation grants program seeks to support business to implement evidence-based circular economy business opportunities and approaches in Victoria.

To view the funding recipients, view the Recycling Victoria Business Support Fund – Stream 2: Implementation grants – Funded projects.