Nine new Victorian projects will receive a combined total of $1.6 million in funding to invest in development and research trials using recycled glass, plastic, paper and e-waste.
Sustainability Victoria’s Research, Development and Demonstration grants program supports innovative research to test and develop new uses and technologies for materials recovered from Victorian household and commercial recycling. There are also projects testing new extraction technologies to improve the recovery of precious materials from e-waste, such as solar panels and batteries.
The funding aims to increase consumer and business confidence in the quality of recycled content contained in a range of products, support the scaling up of new or existing products and ultimately keep valuable resources out of landfill.
“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. This will build confidence and market demand,” said Sustainability Victoria’s interim CEO Carl Muller.
“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.”
Projects snapshot
The latest projects bring together industry, government and universities for innovative research collaborations to change the face of the commercial market for recycled content products and materials.
The Australian Road Research Board will receive $200,000 to trial recycled crushed glass in asphalt on local roads, in collaboration with Brimbank City Council and VicRoads.
More than 250,000 tonnes of glass is recovered from households and business in Victoria every year. Using finely crushed glass as road base has the potential to create viable markets for the vast amounts of glass collected in Victoria, especially that which is low-value and not easily recycled into other glass products.
Swinburne University will receive $192,950 to evaluate the use of recovered glass, plastics and crushed concrete in the foundations of railway structures, in partnership with Melbourne Trains Metro, Level Crossing Removal Project and Rail Projects Victoria.
Currently, railway foundations are made of quarried virgin materials. This project has the potential to create a sustainable long-term market for recovered materials such as plastic and glass which are challenging to recycle and process locally at present.
“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,” said Muller.
“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.”
Success stories
Previous grant recipients have made a big impact. Duratrack composite plastic sleepers, produced in Mildura by Integrated Recycling, contain a mix of plastic waste which is typically low value and often sent to landfill. This is the result of a research collaboration with Monash Institute of Railway Technology with the plastic sleepers now installed on the Metro line in Richmond and the V/Line near Wyndham Vale.
Read about the nine current projects here.
Image: Plastic and glass used was used in concrete footpaths at Wyndham City Council after a Sustainability Victoria funded R&D project proved the materials’ performance success (supplied by Sustainability Victoria).