The Victorian Government is providing than $2.1 million in grants for projects that develop new uses of new ways to use recycled materials in everyday products.
Making the Announcement, Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio said ten research institutes will share $2.1 million in funding from Recycling Victoria Research and Development Fund to create new products that can use recycled materials including plastic, paper, glass, cardboard and tyres.
“We’re proud to support new research and development that helps Victoria lead the way in cutting waste and reducing our impact on the environment,” the Minister said.
“The projects funded by these grants will reduce waste through design innovation and create more value from our resources, supporting a more sustainable future for Victoria.”
“Facilitating innovation projects like these will help build our circular economy and reach Victoria’s goal of reducing 80 per cent of waste sent to landfill by 2030.”
According to the Victorian Government’s statement, the projects will collectively fund nine new dedicated research roles and partially fund six existing positions, enabling industry to work with researchers to develop new ways to use recycled materials in products and infrastructure such as roads and residential housing.
Monash University’s Institute of Railway Technology was awarded $300,000 to develop modular parts for tram stop platforms made of reinforced recycled plastic, in partnership with Yarra Trams, Integrated Recycling and Advanced Circular Polymer.
Swinburne University of Technology and industry partners Polyfoam and Frubber have been awarded $200,000 to develop a new process for recycling polystyrene by using tyre crumbs to manufacture waffle pod spacers and reinforced residential housing slabs.
The full list of Recycling Victoria Research and Development Fund recipients is available here.
Minister D’Ambrosio also announced a further $750,000 through the Recycling Victoria Innovation Fund to support projects that will minimise waste in the production process.
According to the Minister, grants of up to $250,000 will be made available to support projects that design out waste in the production, distribution and use phase of a resource’s lifecycle, for example by re-designing a product to be more durable, repairable and recyclable.
