The Australian Government has invested $190 million in the Recycling Modernisation Fund to support the states and territories (as part of the National Partnership on Recycling Infrastructure) to increase the capacity of recycling facilities around the country.
There are a number of projects underway and more in the pipeline. For the most up to date information on these projects - please see RMF projects table at the base of this page.
This information is updated as new projects are announced or as updated information is reported by the States and Territories.
The Australian and ACT Governments will provide $21 million to upgrade the ACT Material Recovery Facility. The upgrades will allow better separation and processing of paper, glass and plastic and reduce contamination rates so the facility can produce better quality recycled material to sell to market.
The upgraded facility will have the capacity to improve the quality and marketability of 23,000 tonnes of paper and mixed cardboard, 1,800 tonnes of mixed plastics and 14,000 tonnes of glass from the ACT and five regional New South Wales councils annually.
These quality recycled materials will support thriving regional industries and local job opportunities.
- Media release: $21 million for better recycling for the ACT
The Australian and New South Wales Governments have announced almost $25 million in grants to 22 new recycling infrastructure projects to turbo-charge New South Wales’ recycling industry.
This investment, along with previous investments has encouraged industry to also invest a further $54 million and create hundreds of jobs.
Further grants will be announced in the future.
- Media release: Ground breaking recycling projects to roll out across NSW
- Media release: $162 million for New South Wales recycling infrastructure
- Web: Remanufacture NSW
This funding will provide better recycling outcomes, deliver environmental and community benefits and create new jobs.
- Media release: Joint media release: Recycling to become a boom industry in Queensland
- Grant program: Queensland Recycling Modernisation Fund
The Australian and South Australian Governments have co-invested $35.3 million for South Australia to boost its recycling and remanufacturing sector. This funding will support eight projects to help South Australia process an additional 205,000 tonnes of waste plastic, glass, paper and tyres each year, and support more than 500 jobs across the state.
As part of these projects, South Australia and the Australian Government are jointly contributing $7.92 million to build a new $12 million fibre polishing plant adjacent to the Northern Adelaide Waste Management Authority that will process an additional 40,000 tonnes of paper and cardboard per annum.
- Media release: Joint media release: $111 million boost for SA recycling industry
- Web: Grant program
The Australian and Tasmanian Governments are working together to transform Tasmania’s waste and recycling industry by each contributing $5.5 million and leveraging over $9.3 million of industry investment.
The combined funding of over $20.3 million will support three plastics projects to process an additional 15,000 tonnes of waste plastic each year.
This is a substantial investment in plastics recycling which will enable Tasmania to process its own plastic waste, reduce the need to transport waste for processing to mainland Australia and reduce waste into landfill.
It will also play an important role to help grow the resource recovery sector and create a circular economy in Tasmania.
- Media release: Tasmania's recycling revolution gains pace
- Media release: $16 million to boost Tasmanian recycling infrastructure
- Media release: Recycling Modernisation Grants Program Opens
- Grant guidelines: Recycling Modernisation Fund (Plastics) Grants Program
The Australian and Victorian Governments will co-invest $46 million in new plastic, paper, glass and tyres recycling infrastructure for Victoria.
This will help Victoria to process the 260,000 tonnes of waste plastic, paper, glass and tyres impacted by the export ban, and more.
The first round of funding has invested $8.1 million for seven glass and plastics projects across Victoria. This will be more than double Victoria’s glass recycling and boost its plastics recycling by almost 40 per cent.
Industry and local government are playing their part and will contribute an additional $51 million to these projects.
The Australian and Victorian Governments will invest a combined $24 million, and leverage a further $13 million investment from Visy Industries, to fund Australia’s first drum pulper to recycle Victoria’s waste paper and cardboard at the Coolaroo Paper Mill. The drum pulper will process an additional 95,000 tonnes of kerbside waste and will result in more recycled paper products being made and sold out of Victoria.
- Media release: Jobs and growth for Geelong recycling plant
- Media release: Recycling boom spells jobs for Victoria
- Grants guidelines: Recycling Victoria Recycling Modernisation Fund
Western Australia is funding new plastics and tyre processing infrastructure.
More than $30 million from the RMF will go towards tackling 100,000 tonnes of waste paper and cardboard at a new $86.6 million Suez Recycling and Resource Recovery/Auswaste pulp mill in Perth. This will be operational before the export ban on mixed paper comes into effect on 1 July 2024.
Another $35 million will leverage investments across eight new projects processing approximately 140,000 tonnes of Western Australian plastic and tyre waste every year.
These projects will help our environment and create at least 200 jobs.
The Western Australian Government will also provide $5 million in industrial zoned land for recycling infrastructure projects.
RMF projects
The RMF projects table will be updated as additional agreements are confirmed and the outcomes of new grant rounds are announced. The Northern Territory and Queensland are yet to be confirmed.
RMF projects at 19 August 2021
Australian Capital Territory (ACT)
| State | Project Description | Waste Export Ban Category | Additional capacity (tonnes per annum) | Completion date | Co-funding $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
ACT |
Upgrades to MRF |
Paper & Cardboard |
23,000 |
June 2023 |
$21,000,000 |
|
Mixed plastics |
1,800 |
||||
|
Glass |
14,000 |
New South Wales (NSW)
| State | Project Description | Waste Export Ban Category | Additional capacity (tonnes per annum) | Completion date | Co-funding $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
NSW |
Mixed coloured glass beneficiation facility |
Glass |
99,000 |
June 2024 |
$1,000,000 |
|
NSW |
Use of recycled crushed glass sand in asphalt as part of a major road upgrade project |
Glass |
5,900 |
June 2024 |
$236,000 |
|
NSW |
Facility upgrade to asphalt plant to enable crushed glass use |
Glass |
20,000 |
June 2024 |
$250,000 |
|
NSW |
Develop and trial geopolymer concrete containing recycled crushed glass sand to inform future widespread use in footpaths and cycleways |
Glass |
100 |
June 2024 |
$249,987 |
|
NSW |
New recycling facility to process lower grade glass cullet and beneficiation plant rejects into products for use in engineering applications |
Glass |
47,500 |
June 2024 |
$900,000 |
|
NSW |
Reprocessing of waste glass materials currently sent to landfill |
Glass |
1,950 |
June 2024 |
$150,000 |
|
NSW |
New recycling facility to process glass for use in locally manufactured products |
Glass |
38,000 |
June 2024 |
$850,000 |
|
NSW |
MRF upgrade to include a new input hopper and bouncing belt to extract paper and cardboard, new conveyors to improve the flow of materials, and a new plastics sorting station |
Paper & Cardboard |
200 |
June 2024 |
$115,000 |
|
Mixed plastics |
|||||
|
NSW |
Paper fibre beneficiation facility |
Paper & Cardboard |
100,000 |
June 2024 |
$4,800,000 |
|
NSW |
New processing infrastructure to recover expanded polystyrene (EPS) currently being landfilled |
Single plastics |
430 |
June 2024 |
$55,490 |
|
NSW |
Processing of mixed plastics into commercial grade recycled HDPE, PP and LDPE resins |
Single plastics |
5,000 |
June 2024 |
$495,000 |
|
NSW |
Processing of waste PET into food-grade recycled PET pellets for use by major Australian brands |
Single plastics |
25,000 |
Oct 2021 |
$4,800,000 |
|
NSW |
Trial project - Upgrades to recycling infrastructure at a plastics chemical recovery plant |
Mixed plastics |
- |
June 2024 |
$150,000 |
|
NSW |
Pelletising Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) plastic waste |
Single plastics |
1,950 |
June 2024 |
$150,000 |
|
NSW |
Processing mixed plastics into plastic flakes for use by local plastics manufacturers |
Mixed plastics |
16,000 |
June 2024 |
$3,305,000 |
|
NSW |
Hard plastics recycling using specialised washing and shredding systems |
Mixed plastics |
600 |
June 2024 |
$146,000 |
|
NSW |
Processing soft plastic waste to pellets |
Mixed plastics |
1,000 |
June 2024 |
$150,000 |
|
NSW |
New HDPE extrusion and sorting line |
Single plastics |
12,000 |
June 2024 |
$1,000,000 |
|
NSW |
Crumb rubber production facility |
Tyres |
2,080 |
June 2024 |
$351,500 |
|
NSW |
Tyre processing expansion project |
Tyres |
4,644 |
Mar 2022 |
$745,184 |
|
NSW |
Plastic reprocessing facility expansion |
Mixed plastics |
3,550 |
Jul 2023 |
$2,090,000 |
|
NSW |
Recycled HDPE for integration in food packaging |
Single plastics |
1,200 |
Jun 2022 |
$553,608 |
|
NSW |
New Materials Recovery Facility |
Mixed plastics, glass, paper and cardboard |
56,175 |
Nov 2022 |
$5,000,000 |
|
NSW |
Recycling industrial, agricultural and retail plastic waste |
Mixed plastics |
864 |
Jun 2022 |
$636,000 |
|
NSW |
Material Recovery Facility upgrades |
Glass, mixed plastics and paper |
338 |
May 2022 |
$143,500 |
|
NSW |
Material Recovery Facility upgrades |
Glass and Mixed plastics |
238 |
Dec 2022 |
$520,810 |
|
NSW |
Glass processing facility upgrades |
Glass |
4,000 |
Jun 2022 |
$228,265 |
|
NSW |
Install new MicrofactorieTM |
Glass and Mixed plastics |
1,386 |
Feb 2023 |
$500,000 |
|
NSW |
Upgrades to increase recycled content in wheelie bins |
Single plastics |
1,167 |
Dec 2022 |
$2,083,606 |
|
NSW |
Upgrades to increase tyre recycling capacity |
Tyres |
11,366 |
Jun 2022 |
$524,347 |
|
NSW |
Upgrades to tyre recycling facility to enable processing of Off the Road (OTR) tyres |
Tyres |
2,586 |
Jul 2022 |
$2,888,915 |
|
NSW |
Recycling of liquid paperboard and single use coffee cups into particle and plaster board substitutes |
Paper and Cardboard |
4,000 |
Jun 2023 |
$1,739,128 |
|
NSW |
Upgrades to expand processing capacity at plastics recycling facility |
Mixed plastics |
481 |
Dec 2022 |
$422,500 |
|
NSW |
Recycling equipment upgrade |
Single plastics |
2,250 |
Dec 2022 |
$762,000 |
|
NSW |
New equipment to increase the amount of recycled content being used to make industrial and personal care packaging products |
Single plastics |
750 |
Aug 2022 |
$492,200 |
|
NSW |
Increase glass recovery and processing at existing facility |
Glass |
22,819 |
Jul 2022 |
$2,546,758 |
|
NSW |
Plastics and e‑waste recycling mobile factories |
Mixed plastics |
1,000 |
Mar 2022 |
$159,936 |
|
NSW |
Trial project – mobile granulator to process plastics onsite |
Mixed plastics |
N/A |
Jun 2023 |
$179,500 |
|
NSW |
Trial project -incorporation of recycled plastic into PVC pipes |
Single plastics |
N/A |
Jul 2023 |
$910,000 |
|
NSW |
Trial project -incorporation of recycled plastic into sound abatement walls |
Mixed plastics |
N/A |
Sep 2022 |
$850,000 |
|
NSW |
Trial project - incorporation of recycled content into industrial pails |
Mixed plastics |
N/A |
Mar 2023 |
$177,825 |
South Australia (SA)
| State | Project Description | Waste Export Ban Category | Additional capacity (tonnes per annum) | Completion date | Co-funding $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
SA |
Installation, commissioning and operation of a polystyrene recycling machine at a resource recovery centre. |
Single plastics |
13 |
Feb 2021 |
$27,000 |
|
SA |
Installation, commissioning and operation of equipment to recycle polystyrene |
Single plastics |
49 |
Feb 2021 |
$33,400 |
|
SA |
Installation of advanced polymer separation equipment to enable new markets for plastic received in mixed form |
Mixed plastics |
4,000 |
Aug 2020 |
$500,000 |
|
SA |
Installation of equipment to separate paper fibre from mixed rigid waste plastic |
Mixed plastics |
4,000 |
Oct 2020 |
$500,000 |
|
SA |
Expansion of plastic recycling facility in regional SA |
Mixed plastics |
4 |
Dec 2021 |
$27,540 |
|
SA |
Installation of equipment to remove contaminants from paper and cardboard |
Paper & Cardboard |
1,170 |
Oct 2020 |
$43,140 |
|
SA |
Processing plant for washing and treatment of post-MRF glass fines for use in roads |
Glass |
3,800 |
Dec 2021 |
$500,000 |
|
SA |
New glass beneficiation plant |
Glass |
100,000 |
April 2022 |
$8,000,000 |
|
SA |
Increase manufacturing capacity for LDPE and HDPE plastics |
Single plastics |
6,300 |
Oct 2023 |
$1,222,000 |
|
SA |
Processing and sorting equipment for mixed plastics and glass |
Mixed plastics |
5,000 |
June 2021 |
$3,140,000 |
|
Glass |
|||||
|
SA |
New plastics processing plant |
Mixed plastics |
12,000 |
June 2023 |
$8,888,000 |
|
SA |
New glass processing plant |
Glass |
30,000 |
April 2022 |
$1,078,000 |
|
SA |
Processing and sorting equipment for mixed plastics and glass |
Mixed plastics |
10,000 |
Oct 2021 |
$4,110,000 |
|
Glass |
|||||
|
SA |
Tyre recycling plant |
Tyres |
1,800 |
April 2022 |
$962,000 |
|
SA |
New facility to process waste paper and cardboard |
Paper & Cardboard |
40,000 |
July 2024 |
$7,920,000 |
Tasmania (TAS)
| State | Project Description | Waste Export Ban Category | Additional capacity (tonnes per annum) | Completion date | Co-funding $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
TAS |
Processing plastic into various products. |
Plastics |
6,400 |
June 2024 |
$2,099,940 |
|
TAS |
Processing plastic for products to use in aquaculture, agriculture and construction industries. |
Plastics |
7,200 |
June 2024 |
$3,084,394 |
|
TAS |
Processing plastic into composite decking and other products. |
Plastics |
1,400 |
April 2023 |
$5,815,666 |
Victoria (VIC)
| State | Project Description | Waste Export Ban Category | Additional capacity (tonnes per annum) | Completion date | Co-funding $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
VIC |
Glass beneficiation plant |
Glass |
140,000 |
May 2022 |
$3,000,000 |
|
VIC |
Glass sorting and processing facility |
Glass |
1,500 |
July 2022 |
$228,750 |
|
VIC |
New centrifuge to process additional glass, and a material storage bunker |
Glass |
50,000 |
Oct 2021 |
$400,000 |
|
VIC |
New glass recycling facility |
Glass |
7,500 |
Oct 2021 |
$481,800 |
|
VIC |
New plastics reprocessing facility |
Mixed plastics |
20,000 |
May 2022 |
$3,000,000 |
|
VIC |
New machinery and plastics processing facilities for use in new products |
Single plastics |
1,655 |
Mar 2022 |
$847,961 |
|
VIC |
Plastics remanufacturing into new pipe products |
Single plastics |
1,320 |
Dec 2021 |
$155,045 |
| VIC | Upgraded and expanded plastics recycling facility | Mixed plastics | 8,000 | June 2022 | $1,500,000 |
|
VIC |
New drum pulper technology at a paper mill |
Paper & Cardboard |
95,000 |
April 2024 |
$24,000,000 |
Western Australia (WA)
| State | Project Description | Waste Export Ban Category | Additional capacity (tonnes per annum) | Completion date | Co-funding $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
WA |
Expansion of tyre recycling facility for end-of-life tyres |
Tyres |
11,000 |
June 2023 |
$2,966,505 |
|
WA |
New HDPE, PET, PP reprocessing and mixed plastics sorting facility |
Single and mixed plastics |
21,000 |
Dec 2023 |
$5,640,000 |
|
WA |
New facility to recycle waste tyres into crumb rubber primarily for the WA asphalt industry |
Tyres |
9,152 |
Feb 2022 |
$3,500,000 |
|
WA |
Purchase of a high-quality shredder to pre‑process tyres into feedstock |
Tyres |
5,632 |
Aug 2022 |
$357,867 |
|
WA |
New processing facility to process end of life OTR tyres from mining sites in a regional area |
Tyres |
27,000 |
Dec 2023 |
$6,921,845 |
|
WA |
New plastics reprocessing facility to process post-consumer plastic feedstock into food and non-food grade plastic flake |
Mixed plastics |
17,000 |
Dec 2023 |
$9,590,400 |
|
WA |
New HDPE/PET recycling plant supported by the existing shredding/grinding plants in other WA locations |
Single plastics |
2,500 |
Nov 2021 |
$832,000 |
|
WA |
New facility to process tyres into rubber crumb |
Tyres |
29,000 |
Dec 2022 |
$5,191,383 |
|
WA |
New paper pulp mill |
Paper & Cardboard |
115,000 |
June 2024 |
$30,000,000 |
|
ALL |
TOTAL |
|
1,329,719 |
|
$210,872,695 |
*Where the expected completion date is unknown, we have assumed it will be completed by 30 June 2024.
RMF Co-funding by State and Material at 20 August 2021
| Row Labels | Additional capacity (tonnes per annum) | Co-funding $ |
|---|---|---|
|
ACT |
38,800 |
$21,000,000 |
|
Glass |
14,000 |
|
|
Paper and Cardboard |
23,000 |
|
|
Plastics |
1,800 |
|
|
NSW |
495,524 |
$43,308,059 |
|
Glass |
258,806 |
|
|
Paper and Cardboard |
122,825 |
|
|
Plastics |
93,217 |
|
|
Tyres |
20,676 |
|
|
SA |
218,136 |
$36,951,080 |
|
Glass |
141,300 |
|
|
Paper and Cardboard |
41,170 |
|
|
Plastics |
33,866 |
|
|
Tyres |
1,800 |
|
|
TAS |
15,000 |
$11,000,000 |
|
Plastics |
15,000 |
|
|
VIC |
316,975 |
$33,613,556 |
|
Glass |
199,000 |
|
|
Paper and Cardboard |
95,000 |
|
|
Plastics |
30,975 |
|
|
WA |
237,284 |
$65,000,000 |
|
Paper and Cardboard |
115,000 |
|
|
Plastics |
40,500 |
|
|
Tyres |
81,784 |
|
|
Grand Total |
1,329,719 |
$210,872,695 |