Victoria's plastic recycling capacity gets a major boost with a $4 million investment from the government and industry. This initiative aims to divert more hard-to-recycle plastics, including soft plastics, from landfills and transform them into new products. Four new projects will increase plastics recycling by 16,700 tonnes annually, creating jobs in the Victorian circular economy.
The projects include:
- Pact Recycling's bagMUSTER project, which will recycle bags used for transporting seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and stockfeed.
- APR's soft plastic sorting capacity upgrade, utilizing an infrared process from Norway to enhance sorting and recycling, including end-of-life soft plastics.
- Australian Soft Plastics Recycling's facility upgrade, improving the recycling of low-density polyethylene films like pallet wrap collected from supermarket warehouses.
- RE4ORM's facility upgrade, focusing on recovering low-density plastics for reuse in manufacturing new recycled products.
The $3.5 million government investment, split between the Victorian and Federal Governments through the Recycling Modernization Fund (RMF), supports states and territories in boosting Australia's capacity to sort, process, and remanufacture waste glass, plastic, tires, paper, and cardboard.
Federal Minister for the Environment and Water, Murray Watt, emphasizes the significance of these projects in transforming Australia's plastic waste management. He highlights the Recycling Modernization Fund's role in keeping plastic out of landfills and in productive use.
The Federal Government's RMF investment exceeds $200 million, contributing to a $1 billion investment with states, territories, and industry. In Victoria, the RMF supports 27 projects with $79 million in joint funding, including $44.7 million from the Federal Government and $34.3 million from the Victorian Government.
These projects are expected to add 328,000 tonnes of recycling capacity annually and attract $226.5 million in recycling infrastructure investments in the state.
Victorian Minister for Environment, Steve Dimopoulos, underscores the projects' role in strengthening Victoria's plastic waste management, ensuring more materials are recovered, reused, and kept in productive circulation.
Round 6 of the RMF, starting from January 19, 2026, will offer an additional $4 million in joint funding to businesses, social enterprises, not-for-profit organizations, and local government organizations to further enhance capacity and divert waste from landfills into the circular economy. Applications will close on July 1, 2026, or when funding is fully allocated.
