Last week, Minister for Environment and Climate Change Lisa Neville announced $300,000 for innovative projects that will help keep organic waste out of landfill and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The funding will support local government and businesses to install small-scale on-site or precinct-scale anaerobic digestion technology for organics recovery and as an alternative energy source.
The funding aims to help overcome barriers to uptake of these technologies by supporting pilot projects that demonstrate the viability of organics recovery and processing, and which can easily be replicated.
There is a significant opportunity to increase the recovery and reprocessing of food waste in the commercial and industrial sector. In 2011-12, over 280,000 tonnes of food waste was generated by the commercial and industrial sector with only 10 per cent recycled. It also presents opportunities for economic development with the potential to create jobs and drive investment in Victoria’s waste and resource recovery industry.
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