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 co-announced $45 million in grants towards 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 $140 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 almost 15,000 tonnes of additional 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 latest round of funding brings the total number of projects supported through the RMF in Victoria to 21, with 13 new projects bringing the total waste processing capacity for Victoria to over 320,000 tonnes per annum.
The Australian and Victorian Governments will also 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.
Industry and local government are playing their part and will contribute total industry investments of over $122 million across Victoria.
Two additional projects are being funded specifically in regional and remote areas of Victoria to ensure recycling infrastructure benefits all areas. These two projects will process almost 15,000 tonnes of paper, glass and plastic each year and support 15 new jobs in regional Victoria.
- Media release: Recycling transformation drives jobs in 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 over 100,000 tonnes of waste paper and cardboard at a new 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 approved as at April 2022
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 and 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 |
Dec 2023 |
$1,000,000 |
|
NSW |
Use of recycled crushed glass sand in asphalt as part of a major road upgrade project |
Glass |
5,900 |
April 2022 |
$236,000 |
|
NSW |
Facility upgrade to asphalt plant to enable crushed glass use |
Glass |
3,000 |
Dec 2021 |
$250,000 |
|
NSW |
Develop and trial geopolymer concrete containing recycled crushed glass sand to inform future widespread use in footpaths and cycleways |
Glass |
100 |
Feb 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 |
Apr 2023 |
$900,000 |
|
NSW |
Reprocessing of waste glass materials currently sent to landfill |
Glass |
1,950 |
Apr 2021 |
$150,000 |
|
NSW |
New recycling facility to process glass for use in locally manufactured products |
Glass |
38,000 |
Aug 2021 |
$603,290 |
| 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 | Mixed plastics, paper and cardboard | 200 | Dec 2021 | $115,000 |
|
NSW |
Paper fibre beneficiation facility |
Paper and cardboard |
100,000 |
Sep 2023 |
$4,800,000 |
|
NSW |
New processing infrastructure to recover expanded polystyrene (EPS) currently being landfilled |
Single plastics |
430 |
Sep 2021 |
$55,490 |
|
NSW |
Processing of mixed plastics into commercial grade recycled HDPE, PP and LDPE resins |
Single plastics |
5,000 |
Jun 2022 |
$495,000 |
|
NSW |
Processing of waste PET into food-grade recycled PET pellets for use by major Australian brands |
Single plastics |
25,000 |
Jun 2023 |
$4,800,000 |
|
NSW |
Trial project - Upgrades to recycling infrastructure at a plastics chemical recovery plant |
Mixed plastics |
N/A |
Dec 2021 |
$150,000 |
|
NSW |
Pelletising Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) plastic waste |
Single plastics |
1,950 |
Dec 2021 |
$150,000 |
|
NSW |
Processing mixed plastics into plastic flakes for use by local plastics manufacturers |
Mixed plastics |
16,000 |
Sep 2023 |
$3,305,000 |
|
NSW |
Hard plastics recycling using specialised washing and shredding systems |
Mixed plastics |
600 |
Oct 2021 |
$146,000 |
|
NSW |
Processing soft plastic waste to pellets |
Single plastics |
1,000 |
Dec 2021 |
$150,000 |
|
NSW |
New HDPE extrusion and sorting line |
Single plastics |
12,000 |
Jun 2022 |
$1,000,000 |
|
NSW |
Tyre processing expansion project |
Tyres |
4,644 |
Mar 2023 |
$745,184 |
|
NSW |
Recycled HDPE for integration in food packaging |
Single plastics |
1,200 |
Sep 2022 |
$553,608 |
|
NSW |
New Materials Recovery Facility |
Mixed plastics, glass, paper and cardboard |
56,175 |
Jun 2024 |
$5,000,000 |
|
NSW |
Recycling industrial, agricultural and retail plastic waste |
Mixed plastics |
864 |
Jan 2023 |
$636,000 |
|
NSW |
Material Recovery Facility upgrades |
Mixed plastics, glass, paper and cardboard |
338 |
Dec 2022 |
$143,500 |
|
NSW |
Material Recovery Facility upgrades |
Mixed plastics, glass, paper and cardboard |
238 |
Mar 2023 |
$520,810 |
|
NSW |
Install new MicrofactorieTM |
Glass and mixed plastics |
1,010 |
Jul 2023 |
$500,000 |
|
NSW |
Upgrades to increase recycled content in wheelie bins |
Single plastics |
1,167 |
Feb 2023 |
$2,083,606 |
|
NSW |
Upgrades to increase tyre recycling capacity |
Tyres |
11,366 |
Oct 2022 |
$524,347 |
|
NSW |
Upgrades to tyre recycling facility to enable processing of Off the Road (OTR) tyres |
Tyres |
2,586 |
Nov 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 |
May 2023 |
$2,546,758 |
|
NSW |
Trial project – mobile granulator to process plastics onsite |
Mixed plastics |
N/A |
Aug 2023 |
$179,500 |
|
NSW |
Trial project -incorporation of recycled plastic into PVC pipes |
Single plastics |
N/A |
Nov 2022 |
$910,000 |
|
NSW |
Trial project -incorporation of recycled plastic into sound abatement walls |
Mixed plastics |
N/A |
Apr 2023 |
$850,000 |
|
NSW |
Trial project - incorporation of recycled content into industrial pails |
Mixed plastics |
N/A |
Mar 2023 |
$177,825 |
| NSW | Materials Recovery Facility | Mixed plastics, glass, tyres, paper and cardboard | 6,400 | June 2024 | $909,800 |
| NSW | Resource Recovery Facility for HDPE and Tyres | Plastics, Tyres | 8,500 | June 2024 | $840,900 |
| NSW | Installation of a Re-Use HDPE Drum Washer | Plastics | 50 | June 2024 | $49,900 |
| NSW | Reforming recovered polymers using 3D printing | Single Polymers - PET, PP, HDPE, LDPE | 442 | June 2024 | $163,731 |
| NSW | E-waste Plastics Recovery | Mixed plastics | 4,800 | June 2024 | $1,000,000 |
| NSW | Rubber plant creating valuable crumbed rubber and mesh power for infrastructure | Tyres | 160 | June 2024 | $514,000 |
| NSW | Regional Resource Recovery Centre processing glass and paper and cardboard | Glass, Paper and Cardboard | 8,600 | June 2024 | $1,000,000 |
| NSW | Recycling of irrigation plastic pipes discarded by farms | Plastics | 4,788 | December 2023 | $355,087 |
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 |
Mar 2020 |
$27,540 |
|
SA |
Installation of equipment to remove contaminants from paper and cardboard |
Paper and cardboard |
0* |
Oct 2020 |
$43,140 |
|
SA |
Processing plant for washing and treatment of post-MRF glass fines for use in roads |
Glass |
3,800 |
May 2022 |
$500,000 |
|
SA |
New glass beneficiation plant |
Glass |
100,000 |
Apr 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, and glass | 5,000 | Jun 2022 | $3,140,000 |
|
SA |
New plastics processing plant |
Mixed plastics |
12,000 |
Jun 2023 |
$8,888,000 |
|
SA |
New glass processing plant |
Glass |
30,000 |
Apr 2022 |
$1,078,000 |
| SA | Processing and sorting equipment for mixed plastics and glass | Mixed plastics, and glass | 10,000 | Oct 2021 | $4,110,000 |
|
SA |
Tyre recycling plant |
Tyres |
1,800 |
Jun 2022 |
$962,000 |
|
SA |
New facility to process waste paper and cardboard |
Paper and cardboard |
40,000 |
Jun 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. |
Single plastics |
6,400 |
Jun 2024 |
$2,099,940 |
|
TAS |
Processing plastic for products to use in aquaculture, agriculture and construction industries. |
Mixed plastics |
7,200 |
Jun 2024 |
$3,084,394 |
|
TAS |
Processing plastic into composite decking and other products. |
Single plastics |
1,300 |
Apr 2023 |
$5,815,666 |
Victoria (VIC)
| State | Project Description | Waste Export Ban Category | Additional capacity (tonnes per annum) | Completion date | Co-funding $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VIC |
Processing post-consumer PET bottle waste to food grade plastic packaging |
Plastics | 24,700 | Apr 2023 | $6,000,000 |
| VIC |
Expanded processing capacity with state-of-the-art processing equipment |
Tyres | 23,000 | Feb 2022 | $3,699,670 |
| VIC |
Construction of new facility, and equipment to process mixed plastics |
Mixed plastics | 18,600 | Dec 2022 | $9,708,487 |
| VIC |
Expansion of garden pot stewardship program to divert plastics from landfill to reprocessing and manufacture |
Plastics | 5,800 | Nov 2022 | $5,315,975 |
| VIC |
New processing equipment |
Paper and cardboard, and mixed plastics | 3,000 | Jun 2022 | $286,747 |
| VIC |
Increased reprocessing of soft plastics to produce a stone aggregate for use in applications such as carparks, pathways and kerbs |
Mixed plastics | 7,000 | Jan 2023 | $735,000 |
| VIC |
New equipment to upgrade two Material Recovery Facilities |
Glass | 5,900 | Mar 2022 | $225,350 |
| VIC |
New plastic extrusion line to produce corrugated pipe from single stream plastic waste as a substitute for concrete piping |
Plastics | 770 | Jan 2023 | $251,064 |
| VIC |
New regional glass processing hub to process glass into feedstock for asphalt |
Glass | 10,000 | Jun 2022 | $740,000 |
| VIC |
Composite recycled plastic railway sleeper production line |
Mixed plastics | 1,600 | Feb 2023 | $1,669,857 |
| VIC |
Glass washing facility |
Glass | 5,000 | May 2022 | $848,000 |
| VIC |
Material Recovery Facility upgrades and new glass recycling facility |
Glass, plastics, paper and cardboard | 9,573 | Mar 2023 | $1,027,400 |
| VIC |
Establishing a PET recycling plant for used plastic bottles |
Single plastics | 28,000 | Jul 2023 | $6,000,000 |
|
VIC |
Glass sorting and processing facility |
Glass |
1,500 |
Aug 2023 |
$228,750 |
|
VIC |
New centrifuge to process additional glass, and a material storage bunker |
Glass |
50,000 |
Apr 2022 |
$400,000 |
|
VIC |
New glass recycling facility |
Glass |
7,500 |
Jun 2022 |
$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 |
Apr 2022 |
$847,961 |
|
VIC |
Plastics remanufacturing into new pipe products |
Single plastics |
1,320 |
Apr 2022 |
$155,045 |
| VIC | Upgraded and expanded plastics recycling facility | Mixed plastics | 8,000 | Feb 2023 | $3,000,000 |
|
VIC |
New drum pulper technology at a paper mill |
Paper and cardboard |
95,000 |
Jan 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 |
Jun 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 |
Nov 2023 |
$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 |
Jan 2023 |
$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 and cardboard |
115,000 |
June 2024 |
$30,000,000 |
|
ALL |
TOTAL |
|
1,302,815 |
|
$242,639,488 |
RMF Co-funding by State and Material as at April 2022
| 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 |
501,258 |
$45,065,066 |
|
Glass |
242,435 |
|
|
Paper and Cardboard |
145,451 |
|
|
Plastics |
83,416 |
|
|
Tyres |
27,556 |
|
|
SA |
216,966 |
$36,951,080 |
|
Glass |
141,300 |
|
|
Paper and Cardboard |
40,000 |
|
|
Plastics |
33,866 |
|
|
Tyres |
1,800 |
|
|
TAS |
14,900 |
$11,000,000 |
|
Plastics |
14,900 |
|
|
VIC |
327,347 |
$68,621,106 |
|
Glass |
84,550 |
|
|
Paper and Cardboard |
99,066 |
|
|
Plastics |
120,731 |
|
|
Tyres |
23,00 | |
|
WA |
237,284 |
$65,000,000 |
|
Paper and Cardboard |
115,000 |
|
|
Plastics |
40,500 |
|
|
Tyres |
81,784 |
|
|
Grand Total |
1,336,555 |
$247,637,252 |