EPA invests over half a billion dollars to build a circular future
Over the last decade, the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has awarded more than half a billion dollars in grants helping industry, councils, businesses, universities and community groups deliver more than 3,000 projects.
The funding has been invested in a diverse range of projects to restore, protect and enhance the NSW environment.
NSW EPA Acting CEO, Stephen Beaman said over the last decade we’ve supported more than 960 organisations, delivering thousands of projects to help drive better environmental outcomes and a circular economy.
“The investments we’ve made over the past decade have been critical to driving NSW towards a circular economy and diverting 4 million tonnes of waste from landfill,” Mr Beaman said.
“We’re proud to support a range of innovative projects, from research helping to reduce problems in the plastic industry, to grassroots community projects that are making a real difference on the ground and driving down activities like illegal dumping and littering.
“Shortly we’ll be offering new funding for our Circular Plastics Program to help companies reduce the use of hard-to-recycle plastics, like soft plastics, and increasingly choose to use recycled plastic in new products.
“We’re investing in our future, and together we can tackle the big issues from climate change to ensuring we have the right infrastructure in NSW.”
Investments have included:
- Close to $6 million awarded to 64 Aboriginal Land Councils and groups to help reduce the impacts of illegal dumping, litter and waste on Aboriginal land, and investments in waste management projects, employment and education in Aboriginal communities across NSW. This funding has helped to remove over 1931 tonnes of material from Aboriginal lands since 2015.
- $43 million for industry and councils in the last two years through the Remanufacture NSW and Organics Infrastructure programs, with over $110 million in co-investments to support new infrastructure critical to our transition to a circular economy.
- $69 million to roll out Food Organics and Garden Organics collections across NSW households and businesses by 2030, supporting new collection services, increased food rescue and expanded facilities to divert over a million tonnes of food and garden waste each year from landfill.
To learn more about our grant programs, please visit the EPA website.