Organics Collections grants

Program snapshot

Category: Organics Infrastructure Fund.

Amounts: Total of $12.1 million; individual grants of up to $1.3 million.

Eligible bodies: NSW Councils, groups of NSW Councils. 

Contact: organics.recycling@epa.nsw.gov.au or info@epa.nsw.gov.au

Status: This program is now closed.

Managed by: NSW Environmental Trust

Aims

This $27 million program funds new or improved local council household kerbside collection services for food and garden organics, including collection systems for garden only, food waste, or a combination of both.

Over 9 previous rounds $25.8 million has been allocated to 64 projects.

An additional $12.5 million was allocated as part of the Alternative Waste Technology Transition Package to support councils impacted by the 2018 EPA revocation of the order and exemption allowing mixed waste organic outputs (MWOO) to be applied to land.

The first 2 rounds of the AWT Transition Package funding allocated $3.1 million to 4 projects.

Many councils in NSW already operate an organics collection service. View the NSW Organics Collection services map (PDF 576KB).

Funding available 

Grants of up to $1.3 million were available to eligible applicants to implement new garden only, food only or combined food and garden organics kerbside collection services. The funding supports audits, community education and infrastructure such as bins and kitchen caddies. 

A total pool of $12.1 million was available. This consisted of the remaining AWT Transition Package funding allocated to organics collections, combined with remaining funds from the Waste Less Recycle More Organics Infrastructure Fund.

For information only, guidelines are available from the NSW Environmental Trust website.

Case studies

These case studies detail the process each council employed to upgrade an existing service or introduce a new one to their residents and the results.

Watch the Cooma-Monaro Shire Council Composting Food and Garden Organics video.

Past recipients

A total of $28.9 million has been allocated so far to collect almost 212,500 tonnes of food and garden waste from landfill in NSW.

  • Round 9 allocated $2.6 million to 6 projects for the collection of organics waste from households. As a result of the grant funding an estimated additional 26,500 tonnes of household organics waste will be collected for recycling each year. View project summaries on the NSW Environmental Trust page.
  • Round 8 allocated $2.67 million to 8 projects for the collection of organics waste from households. As a result of the grant funding an estimated additional 9,289 tonnes of household organics waste will be collected for recycling each year. View project summaries on the NSW Environmental Trust page.
  • Round 7 allocated $2 million to 5 projects for the collection of organics waste from households and businesses. As a result of the grant funding an estimated additional 12,554 tonnes of business and household organics waste will be collected for recycling each year. View project summaries on the View project summaries on the NSW Environmental Trust page.
  • Round 6 allocated $5 million to 10 projects. For the first time, this program is also supporting food waste collections from businesses, with three projects starting as a result of the grant funding to collect an estimated 1,350 tonnes of business food waste a year. View project summaries on the View project summaries on the NSW Environmental Trust page.
  • Round 5 allocated $2 million to 7 councils to provide new organics collection services to their residents, including four multi-unit dwelling trials. View project summaries on the View project summaries on the NSW Environmental Trust page.
  • Round 4 allocated $1.6 million to 4 councils to provide new organics collection services to their residents. View project summaries on the NSW Environmental Trust page.
  • Round 3 allocated $3.5 million to 7 councils to provide new organics collection services to their residents. View project summaries on the NSW Environmental Trust page.
  • Round 2 allocated $5.8 million to 10 councils for new organics collection services. View project summaries on the on the NSW Environmental Trust page.
  • Round 1 allocated $6.5 million to 21 councils to provide new organics collection services to their residents. View project summaries on the NSW Environmental Trust page.

More information

Circular Economy Programs
Organics Unit
Phone: (02) 9995 6890
Email: organics.recycling@epa.nsw.gov.au

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