NSW Environmental Protection Agency NSW Government
 

Circular Plastics Program

Circular Plastics Round 1 grants are closed.

Program snapshot

Category: Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy

Amounts: $1.25 million was awarded under Round 1.

Eligibility: Small to medium manufacturers with fewer than 200 full-time equivalent staff. Businesses must be involved at the ‘make’ phase of the product lifecycle which is the initial manufacturing phase of a product.

Status: Closed

Contact: [email protected]

Managed by: NSW Environment Protection Authority

Aims

The Circular Plastics Program was created to support businesses in the transition to better plastic products and increase the recycling rate of plastics in NSW. The objectives of the program are to:

  • reduce the amount of virgin plastic used
  • reduce the amount of hard-to-recycle plastics used
  • increase the amount of recycled plastic in products
  • catalyse partnerships between producers, end users and the resource recovery sector.

Previous rounds and recipients

Round 1

In July 2023, the EPA awarded $1.25 million to 2 projects in Round 1 of the Circular Plastic Program.

Resero Pty Ltd
​Stream 1 – Sole applicant – $500,000

Resero’s RETHINK project will build an injection moulding facility at their Minto site to develop, manufacture and distribute school chairs made from recycled polypropylene (PP). The project will help to avoid 380 tonnes of virgin PP and set up a take-back system to recover chairs at the end of their usable life. As part of the project’s design with the takeback scheme for end-of-life plastic chairs, collection, and processing, this will also grow the supply & logistics involved in the circular economy.

State Asphalts NSW
​Stream 2 – Collaborative partnership – $750,000

Approximately 7,000 tonnes of combustible cladding in NSW will be destined for landfill after the material was banned in 2018. As this cladding is decommissioned and the aluminium is recovered, the end-markets for the remaining mineral-filled and chemical compounded plastic are very limited. State Asphalts NSW, in partnership with the University of NSW, PanelCycle and Primaplas will develop state-of-the-art technologies to characterise the remaining materials, process the recyclate and create end markets for 800 tonnes of ACP-derived polyethylene per year. State Asphalts NSW will build a plastics recycling plant to wash, granulate, extrude and pelletise the hard-to-recycle plastics at their Prestons site.