Industry partners will be sought for a $36 million investment into the Australian Capital Territory’s (ACT) circular economy, which will see the construction of a new large-scale composting facility, and support the development of an additional recycling facility.
The $13 million new Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) facility will process up to 50,000t of organic material per year, with funding to be provided by the Federal Government’s Food Waste for Healthy Soils Fund.
Delivered in partnership between the Federal and ACT Governments, an additional $23 million will be invested into the construction of a new Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) to be constructed in Hume.
Industry partners will be sought to design, construct, maintain and operate the new FOGO and MRF facilities, with the first approach to market in late 2022.
Federal Minister for the Environment, Tanya Plibersek, said the projects would support the continued growth of Australia’s circular economy.
“The result is more local jobs to support recycling and remanufacturing, financial savings on raw materials, reduced emissions from energy to extract virgin resources and transport waste, and less material going to landfill,” Ms Plibersek said.
“To power the ACT’s circular economy, we need cutting edge waste management and recycling facilities. That is why the Federal and ACT Governments co-invested $23 million through the Federal Government’s Recycling Modernisation Fund to build a new MRF adjacent to the ACT’s existing one.
“In addition, the Federal Government will contribute an additional $13 million from its Food Waste for Healthy Soils Fund towards the ACT Government’s project to convert food and garden waste into high quality compost.”
ACT Minister for Transport and City Services, Chris Steel, welcomed the announcement, which he suggests could cut the ACT’s waste emissions by up to 30 per cent.
“This new facility is a central part of our plans to build our circular economy – turning food waste into valuable compost that can be used to improve the soils of our whole region,” Mr Steel said.
“Large scale composting infrastructure is essential to enable FOGO collections to be expanded to every household in the ACT.”
“Once built, Canberran’s food and garden waste will be collected in their green bin and recycled into nutrient-rich compost, cutting waste emissions by up to 30 per cent.”
