Business and industry to tackle waste at its source
The Victorian Coalition Government has announced another important milestone in reinvesting the landfill levy into projects that support local government and business to reduce waste through the Conserve Invest and Save strategy.
"Today I am pleased to announce the nine successful recipients for grants through the Beyond Waste Fund," Minister for Environment and Climate Change Ryan Smith said.
The recipients will receive a total of $1.35 million dollars to invest in programs that focus on waste avoidance and re-use of waste products.
"Businesses are becoming increasingly aware of the need to adopt more sustainable business practices when dealing with waste," Mr Smith said.
"However many of our small to medium enterprises (SMEs) do not have the skills or expertise to successfully implement strategies in this area or to integrate such approaches into their core business function.
"The Beyond Waste Fund helps businesses tackle waste before it is created, greatly reducing the amount of the waste generated from daily operations," Mr Smith said.
"This will encourage businesses to adopt more efficient practices that ultimately will increase their competiveness in their respective market environments."
Some of the major outcomes from the nine recipients include:
- Waste Audits: The Victorian Employer's Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VECCI) will conduct audits of 40 businesses to provide them with information on the costs associated with their waste disposal and opportunities to reduce waste.
- Food Waste: The City of Whittlesea will conduct key exploratory research into the amount and causes of commercial and industrial food waste in the Plenty Food Group manufacturing hub, located North of Melbourne.
- Construction Waste: In partnership with the Housing Industry Association and RMIT University Centre for Design, housing construction company Burbank Australia will undertake a study to determine the feasibility of designing and constructing a zero (lowest practicable level) waste to landfill home.
- Best practice waste avoidance and reduction: The Geelong Regional Collaborative Beyond Waste Network will assist up to 50 Geelong-based manufacturers to adopt best practice waste avoidance/reduction by participating in an innovative 18 month materials and resource efficiency program.
Mr Smith said the Beyond Waste Fund, originally administered by the Environment Protection Authority Victoria, is now being administered by Sustainability Victoria (SV) as the program aligns more closely with SV's new direction of delivering improved resource efficiency and waste management outcomes for Victoria.
The nine successful recipients and their project partners are:
- Western Health $18,320 (health sector);
- City of Whittlesea $166,200 (commercial food waste) will partner with RMIT;
- Geelong Manufacturing Council $402,700 (SMEs) will partner with ECO2sys Australia Ltd, Barwon Regional Waste Management Group;
- Insights to Excellence $45,000 (SMEs) will partner with Manufacturing Best Practice Program;
- City of Greater Dandenong $50,000 (SMEs) will partner with South East Melbourne Manufacturers Alliance and Centre for Sustainable Resource Consumption;
- VECCI $55,000 (SMEs);
- Burbank Australia $298,000 (housing construction) will partner with RMIT and Housing Industry Association;
- Metricon Homes $200,000 (housing construction); and
- RMIT School of Property, Construction and Project Management $112,480 (housing construction) – partner with Metricon Homes Pty Ltd and Australand Holdings Limited.
