NT releases first circular economy strategy and recycling grants

The Northern Territory Government has released the NT Circular Economy Strategy 2022-2027, the Territory’s roadmap to protecting the environment from wastes by increasing resource recovery, recycling and reuse.

The Strategy released this week will see enhanced collaboration across government, councils and industry to encourage investment and business creation in resource reuse and recycling.

Under the Strategy, the NT Government aims to phase out and ban problematic single use plastics by 2025 by encourage innovation and adoption of resource recovery and recycling technology through partnerships and collaborations with research institutions and industry.

The Strategy will also strengthen the NT’s procurement framework to incentivise use of recycled materials in government funded projects and investigate achievable and cost effective targets for use of recycled content in building and civil construction.

The Strategy will also see $11 million of targeted investment from the Territory Government and the Commonwealth in recycling infrastructure in the Territory. This includes $7.2 million towards construction of a materials recovery facility in Katherine to enhance recycling capabilities for the Big Rivers region.

The remaining $3.8 million will be made available to businesses, local government and not-for-profit organisations through the Northern Territory Recycling Modernisation Fund.

Under this fund, grants of $50,000 or more on a 50:50 co-contribution basis will deliver infrastructure projects that will create or improve recovery, sorting, processing, reuse, recycling or remanufacturing of plastic, paper and cardboard, tyres or glass.

The Territory’s Minister for Environment, Eva Lawler said the fund provided an opportunity to increase the waste and recycling industry’s contribution to the Territory.

“In the last 12 months alone more than one hundred million containers were returned by Territorians to approved depots under the container deposit scheme,” she said.

The NT Container Deposit Scheme (CDS) provides public drop off points which pay the 10-cent refund for each container purchased in the NT. Some of the containers covered include soft drinks, fruit-based drinks and sports drinks; favoured milk and water; and beer, cider and mixed drinks.

Garth Graves, the Vice President of Operations of TOMRA Collection Australia, an operator in NT’s Container Deposit Scheme, welcomed the announcement.

“With the combination of innovation and a family-friendly recycling experience, it will take the state one step closer to protecting the environment from waste by increasing resource recovery, recycling and reusing,” Graves said.

To apply for grants as part of the $3.8 million Recycling Modernisation Fund visit: https://nt.gov.au/industry/business-grants-funding/nt-recycling-modernisation-fund.