Recycled product innovation gets funding boost

Sustainability Victoria is providing $1.6 million in funding to projects that are developing products sourced from recycled glass, plastic, paper and e-waste. The funding supports nine innovative research projects that bring together industry, government and universities, with the results set to change the face of the commercial market for recycled-content products and materials. It is hoped that the funding will increase community and business confidence in the quality of recycled content in a range of products, support the scaling up of new or existing products and ultimately keep valuable resources out of landfill.

The circular economy policy is currently being developed by the Victorian Government, which will increase the amount of recycled products used across Victoria. The policy will ensure products and materials are kept in circulation at their highest value use for as long as possible and that the natural environment is protected.

“It’s all part of Victoria’s growing circular economy — we need proven recycled-content products and markets for those products to make recycling viable,” said Sustainability Victoria Interim CEO Carl Muller. “This will build confidence and market demand.

“Research findings from the funded projects will inform industry of the opportunities to use recovered materials in manufacturing and infrastructure and will support purchasing of products using recycled materials.

“With recent shifts in international markets, such as in China, there is an opportunity to develop strong local markets so the recovery of resources can be maximised.

“The environmental benefits of using recycled content products and materials are clear, including reducing the need for resources, reducing production of high energy products such as concrete and curbing greenhouse gas emissions from production.

“Victoria is investing in a strong and sustainable circular economy that is environment-, jobs- and economy-focused where recovering resources and using recycled content products is the norm,” Muller said.

Funded projects include investigation of new blends of foamed bitumen using recycled glass fines and recovered plastics; the use of glass, plastics and crushed concrete in railway substructure; and establishment of a method to extract high-purity zinc and zinc oxide powders from spent alkaline batteries.

For a full list of projects funded by Sustainable Victoria, click here.

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