The Western Australian (State) and Australian governments are working together to transform Western Australia’s waste and recycling industry through the Australian Government’s Recycling Modernisation Fund (RMF). The RMF aims to build the capacity, capability and resilience of WA’s resource recovery system and support businesses to respond to the national export ban on waste materials.
We, the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (department), are administering the program for WA projects.
Our department administers the RMF via competitive grant funding rounds, through two funding streams known as:
- RMF Plastics Technology
- RMF General ‒ plastics, tyres, paper and cardboard.
Further information about the RMF, the funding streams, eligibility criteria, objectives, application process and funding guidelines can be found below.
Background
Show moreIn March 2020, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to a timetable to phase out exports of certain waste materials.
The COAG decision followed increasing community concern about the impact of exported Australian waste on developing countries and changes to the local recycling industry resulting from various countries’ restrictions on imported waste.
The COAG waste export bans have commenced for the following waste products:
- glass from 1 January 2021
- mixed plastics which are not of a single resin/polymer type and/or which require further sorting, cleaning and processing before use in remanufacturing from 1 July 2021
- tyres that have not been shredded or further processed from 1 December 2021
- single resin/polymer plastics which have not been reprocessed (e.g. cleaned and baled PET bottles) from 1 July 2022
- mixed paper and cardboard from 1 July 2024.
The State and Australian governments are partnering to invest a total of $70 million in WA recycling projects through the Australian Government’s RMF. The funding will be distributed by our department.
The State Government is providing $30 million dollars in grant funding and has also allocated access to industrial zoned land valued at up to $5 million for processing infrastructure.
State Government funds will be matched by the Australian Government.
RMF General stream ‒ plastics, tyres, paper and cardboard ‒ Round 1 (closed)
Show moreIn July 2020, the State Government called for expressions of interest for funding to support the development of sufficient new plastics and tyres processing infrastructure to manage all plastics and tyres currently collected in WA that will be restricted by the COAG waste export bans.
Joint government funding of $18.5 million has been awarded (subject to contract) to four tyre and two plastics infrastructure projects that will increase WA’s capacity to process and recycle the state’s plastics and tyres waste. The government funding will leverage $31 million of industry investment. The projects will create up to 150 new full-time jobs and provide the capacity to process 101,000 tonnes of WA plastic and tyre waste every year.
The six infrastructure projects awarded funding are:
Chairay Sustainable Plastic Company Pty Ltd awarded $5,640,000 to build a new 15,000 tonne per year plastics reprocessing plant and 6,000 tonne per year sorting line in the Perth metropolitan area to recycle PET, HDPE and polypropylene.
D & M Waste Management awarded $832,000 to build a recycling facility in Kwinana to process polyolefin and polyester plastics (such as PET, HDPE and polypropylene), with a supporting shredding and grinding plant in Karratha for high-density polyethylene pipe. The annual processing capacity of the project is of up to 2,500 tonnes.
4M Waste Pty Ltd awarded $2,966,505 to expand operations at a new site in the Perth metropolitan area to allow recycling of up to 12,000 tonnes of used tyres annually as a crumb rubber product to be used in road construction.
Complete Tyre Solutions Tyre Recycling Pty Ltd awarded $3,500,000 to build a tyre recycling plant to process waste tyres into crumb rubber to Main Roads WA specifications for use in the WA asphalt and spray seal industry. The annual processing capacity of the proposed project is over 9,000 tonnes.
Elan Energy Matrix Pty Ltd awarded $357,867 to purchase a high-capacity shredder as part of process of turning tyres into products such as oil, carbon char and milled steel using thermal processing technology. The Welshpool facility proposes to increase recycled waste tyres by 40 per cent, raising the existing recycling capacity from 5,000 to a total of 7,000 waste tyres per day.
Tyrecycle Pty Ltd awarded $5,191,383 to invest in equipment at a new site in Rockingham to produce up to 42,000 tonnes of export-approved tyre shred and 7,000 tonnes of tyre crumb annually.
RMF General stream – plastics, tyres, paper and cardboard – Round 2 (closed)
Show moreIn September 2023, the State Government called for applications to the RMF General stream, which provides grant funding support to build, expand or upgrade plastics, tyres and paper and cardboard waste processing infrastructure. The objective of the program is to improve recycling outcomes by addressing critical infrastructure gaps in WA’s waste management and resource recovery system that will be restricted by the COAG waste export bans.
Joint government funding of $44.1 million has been awarded (subject to contract) to nine recycling projects to improve recycling capabilities across Perth and in regional areas. The government funding will leverage $55.7 million of industry investment. In total, the projects will divert an additional 143,000 tonnes of material from WA landfills every year and support 246 jobs through construction and ongoing operations.
The nine infrastructure projects awarded funding are:
AusWaste Recycling (WA) Pty Ltd awarded $10 million to build a new paper and cardboard processing facility to produce dry pulp, which will increase WA’s capacity for domestic sorting, processing and manufacturing of paper and cardboard materials.
Complete Tyre Solutions Tyre Recycling Pty Ltd trading as CTS Tyre Recycling awarded $4.5 million to expand commercial applications of recycled tyre rubber crumb at its Neerabup facility. CTS Tyre Recycling will purchase and install advanced rubber moulding equipment to produce high-value speciality rubber products.
East-West Pilbara Rubber Recycling Pty Ltd awarded $675,000 worth of land allocation to establish a dedicated off-the-road tyre recycling and devulcanisation facility in Port Hedland, which will produce devulcanised rubber compound that can replace natural and synthetic rubber at ratios of 20–50 per cent.
Matters Enterprises Pty Ltd trading as RubberGem awarded $5 million to establish a new end-of-life off-the-road tyre collection, sorting and grading facility in Newman in the Pilbara. It will also purchase, install and commission off-the-road tyre recycling and rubber recycling technology at RubberGem’s existing facility in Rockingham.
Pro-Pac Group Pty Limited awarded $2.5 million to build capability and capacity to remanufacture soft plastic recycled content into high-performance packaging at its existing industrial and agricultural film manufacturing facility in Kewdale.
Remondis Australia Pty Ltd awarded $8.5 million to expand its current plastic waste processing operations at a purpose-built recycling facility located in Jandakot.
Shire of Exmouth awarded $255,000 to purchase and install a horizontal baler machine and storage facility to bale large volumes of cardboard for recycling.
T C Waste (WA) Pty Ltd trading as D & M Waste Management awarded $4.3 million worth of land allocation to establish a Pilbara facility providing efficient management of end-of-life HDPE pipe from remote mine sites transforming it to high-quality HDPE pipes for various water management applications.
Veolia Recycling & Recovery ANZ Pty Ltd awarded $8.3 million to install new equipment at the Bibra Lake Material Recovery Facility to enable the secondary sorting of mixed fibre.
Additional projects will be announced once they are finalised.
RMF Plastics Technology stream (closed)
Show moreApplications for the RMF Plastics Technology stream are closed.
The Australian Government has committed $60 million nationally to support advanced and innovative technologies targeting hard-to-recycle plastics.
The RMF Plastics Technology stream intends to deliver national solutions that drive significant increases in Australia’s recycling and recovery rates for hard-to-recycle plastics and increase collaboration across supply chains to promote a safe circular economy.
Funding is available for projects that target:
- plastics in waste streams where there are very low recovery and recycling rates because of difficulties in recycling
- plastic waste streams where there is currently limited infrastructure and technology solutions to support circularity in the supply chain, such as soft plastics.
In particular, WA seeks proposals using advanced technologies to deliver:
- processing of commercial film plastics (including linear low-density polyethylene [LLDPE])
- a commercial-scale pilot for an advanced recycling facility that can process industry and/or consumer soft plastic
- recovery of non-hazardous plastic through e-waste processing.
Applications for funding must include at least a 50 per cent contribution towards eligible project costs from the project proponent or, in the case of a consortium proposal, the consortium members.
All projects must be completed and operational by 30 June 2027.
Please refer to the RMF ‒ Plastics Technology Stream Funding Guidelines for further information.
Two-stage application process
Stage one: Expression of Interest ‒ closed 14 August 2023
Proponents submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) to our department through our SmartyGrants online portal. The EOI is a summary of the proposed project and is intended to provide us with an overview of your proposed project and sufficient information to ascertain the project’s eligibility. It will also give us the opportunity to ensure the project aligns with the objectives of the funding round and WA’s Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Strategy 2030.
Stage two: Full Application ‒ Business Case ‒ closed 18 September 2023
A detailed project plan, project budget, cost benefit analysis and completed application will be required.
After the closing date, we will convene a panel to review and assess applications against the assessment criteria detailed in the funding guidelines. The panel’s recommendations will be reviewed, and a shortlist submitted by our department to the Australian Government for decision. The final funding decision will be made by the federal Minister for the Environment.
More information
Show moreIf you have any queries about the RMF, please contact us on 6364 7162 or 0481 061 311 during business hours or email wastegrants@dwer.wa.gov.au.
