Grants worth $30,000 for Bioscience's vineyards compost project

23/12/98

Bioscience Pty Ltd will receive $30,000 for a vineyards compost project.

Environment Minister Cheryl Edwardes today announced grants of nearly $1 million for 35 projects from the Waste Management and Recycling Fund.

Western Australia's first environmental fund is financed by a landfill levy which came into force on July 1, this year and is used to sponsor innovative recycling and waste reduction projects throughout the State.

'Using Compost on Vineyards' is a project to be conducted by Bioscience in conjunction with the Swan Valley and Regional Wine Makers' Association and Ausplow Pty Ltd.

The aim of the project is to convince growers to shift production methods towards organic amendments for soil improvement, plant nutrition, weed and pest management and better water conservation.

The project also seeks to quantify the levels of production of waste to recycle the major organic waste produced. It also redresses the potential for fertilisers to leach into rivers and groundwater.

The grant was provided from the recycling and waste processing industry development category of the Waste Management and Recycling Fund.

It will allow for the establishment of 20 demonstration sites within new and established vineyards.

Bioscience will co-ordinate the supply and application of composts to vineyards, monitor the progress of vine growth, grape yield and wine quality and test soil and leaf tissue. The compost will be produced from the organic waste of wine production.

The anticipated environmental benefit of the project will be improved agronomic outcomes due to better management of waste, soil, nutrients and water resources.

It could lead to new markets for the emerging compost industry, better prospects for sustainable management of the increasingly saline dispersed clays of the Swan Valley vineyards, reduce potential for fertiliser leaching into the Swan River catchment and eliminate disposal of wastes into landfill.

Although the Swan Valley is under great environmental pressure due to urban encroachment and its proximity to the Swan River catchment, the findings of the project will apply to other wine producing areas and parts of the industry.

Mrs Edwardes congratulated the successful applicants who will share in $915,316 of Waste Management and Recycling Fund grants. This round of grants brings the total amount of funding provided this year to nearly $1 million.

"Each year, an expected $4 million raised from the levy will provide financial assistance to local communities, industry and local government with new and innovative ideas on reducing or recycling all types of waste," she said.

"I believe this fund is an incentive to Western Australians who are dedicated to recycling and waste reduction. It will help provide the impetus to reduce the State's waste by half.

"The quality of the applications received by the Advisory Council on Waste Management supports this. Generally grants are made on a dollar-for-dollar basis."

The advisory council selected 35 successful grant applicants in the following six categories:

+ waste classification and information;

+ regional recycling;

+ cleaner production and industrial waste reduction;

+ recycling and waste processing industry development;

+ public education and promotion ; and -

+ State co-ordination of local government recycling and waste reduction.

An additional category, municipal recycling services, will be included in the 1999 funding grants. This will provide a performance based incentive to support local government kerbside collection systems.

The levy applies to landfill sites in the Perth metropolitan area and is costed at $3 per tonne for domestic and commercial waste going to putrescible landfill and $1 per tonne for inert waste from the building and construction industry going to inert landfill. It is paid by all those who generate waste and use landfill sites.

Grant applications are invited every six months. The next grant round will be advertised on January 9, and will be open for a six-week application period. Application forms and details are available from the DEP by telephoning (08) 9476 7407.

Media contact: Nicole Trigwell 9421 7777