The Andrews Labor Government is delivering new ways to use our organic waste, boosting jobs across Victoria and diverting waste from landfill while halving emissions by 2030.

Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio today announced $3.6 million to help put our household garden waste and food scraps to good use in Victoria’s farms, parks and gardens.

Six projects have received $1.6 million through the Recycling Victoria Research and Development Fund – Organic to boost the value of recycled organics and support agriculture while also looking at ways to improve soil quality, boost crop production and develop recycled organics markets.

A further $2 million in grants has opened today through the Recycling Victoria Organics Market Fundto create new markets for the growing volume of recycled organics products.

Victoria produces about one-quarter of Australia’s food waste. Each year, food waste costs Victorians an estimated $6 billion in product value and disposal, 29 billion litres of water, and generates 3.15 million tonnes of emissions.

Over the next decade, the Labor Government will cut waste generation by 15 per cent for every person in the state and halve food and organic waste to landfill under the Government’s $515 million reform of the waste and recycling system.

The Government will halve food waste by 2030 by reforming kerbside waste collection, accelerating the state’s circular economy and supporting innovation in new ways to use recycled organic products, while halving emissions in the same timeframe.

More information is available at https://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/news/news-articles/new-funding-to-ensure-our-food-scraps-dont-go-to-waste

Quotes attributable to Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio

“We’re finding new ways to use organic waste, creating jobs and cutting emissions as we halve food waste by 2030.”

“Kerbside reform has increased the supply of organic waste – this funding will support the development of new ways to use this material in our parks and our paddocks.

Recipients of Recycling Victoria Research and Development Fund (Organics) grants

Waste Mining, Colac: $300,000

This project will use anaerobic digestion and aquaculture technologies to treat separated food waste, with the resulting by-product used as nutrients for growing spirulina for human consumption and duckweed for animal consumption.

Elmore Compost & Organics, Elmore: $232,000

The project will establish a deep soil improvement research and demonstration trial site in dryland grains cropping on typical clay soil in north central Victoria.

Terra Nova Ag, Ballan: $300,000

This project focuses on developing an integrated recycled organics deep soil improvement solution that can be easily deployed across a wide range of cropping operations in the medium and high rainfall zones of Victoria.

Gaia EnviroTech, Bungaree: $300,000

This project aims to address key barriers that currently prevent anaerobic digestion from being commercially viable in Australia.

Cirque du Soil, Bundoora: $165,776

This project seeks to develop fertiliser products derived from food waste diverted from landfill through rigorous soil and plant testing trials

Agpath Pty Ltd, Garfield: $297,000

This project proposes to better understand the potential for a range of organic composts to improve soil health and plant yield.