Circular economy projects boosted by first funding round
On behalf of the Victorian Government and Sustainability Victoria (SV), the CEBIC team are excited to award $6.3 million across 23 projects, as part of our very first funding round.
Seven projects were approved as part of the Recycling Victoria Innovation Fund and a further 16 projects as part of the Recycling Victoria Business Support Fund. All projects are aimed at designing out waste and extending the life and value of products and materials. Some projects will do this by launching new products and services, while others will test out innovations and contribute new circular business ideas.
View the successful Innovation Fund projects.
View the successful Business Support Fund projects:
A huge thank-you to all the businesses and collaborative partnerships that took the time to draft and submit considered and inspiring funding bids. We were both warmed and overwhelmed by the large volume of applications received! It is a testament to just how rapidly evolving our transition to a circular economy really is.
The last 8 months have flown by and we’re so proud of what we’ve achieved together since starting CEBIC. This is especially so when looking at the projected impact from this first funding round.
Together, the 23 projects will:
- identify, develop and assess over 150 circular solutions to tackle almost 1 million tonnes of waste
- implement new business models to design out over 41,450 tonnes of business waste each year
- launch innovations to recycle 27,680 tonnes of waste into new products each year
- reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 42,760 tonnes each year
- deliver 72 new jobs
- support 19 new or existing collaborative partnerships
- leverage private investment of over $10 million into Victoria’s circular economy.
And what about food waste?
Glad you asked. With food and food products contributing 2.4 million tonnes of waste in Victoria each year, we selected this as CEBIC’s first annual focus area. In line with that, 12 of the 23 successful projects are food related.
Together, the 12 projects will:
- implement solutions to reduce or recycle food waste by 50,280 tonnes each year
- contribute to 4.2% toward Victoria’s target to halve food waste by 2030
- identify, develop and trial solutions to reduce an additional 693,000 tonnes of food waste each year.
You can read more about how we can all work together to halve Victoria’s food waste in the Path to Half report.
Where to next
Future rounds of funding through CEBIC are currently being planned. We will also have more to say on CEBIC’s next focus area very soon. Ensure you don’t miss out on CEBIC’s circular economy activities, news and grants by subscribing to our monthly update.
For all grants and funding opportunities offered by SV (including more than just circular economy grants), subscribe to SV’s broader grants and funding alert.