NSW Nationals Member for Cowper Pat Conaghan says a ground-breaking recycling project for a Coffs Coast business will capture the economic value of waste while driving jobs in key areas at critical times.
Coffs Harbour Paper and Oil received joint funding from the NSW Nationals in the state and federal governments totalling $636,000 under the Recycling Modernisation Fund.
He said the successful local project was one of 22 recycling projects across metropolitan and regional NSW and was part of $600 million national rollout of recycling infrastructure.
“This project is about easing pressure on our environment by recycling more materials including plastics, tyres, glass, cardboard and even coffee cups, and importantly it is about creating jobs and economic investment,” Mr Conaghan said.
“This project will create local jobs while increasing the state’s recycling capacity by an estimated 120,000 tonnes every year.
“We can’t keep sending our scraps to languish in landfill when there are huge opportunities to turn our trash into treasure.”
Mr Conaghan said the funding and these new projects will help to boost our existing recycling capabilities, support innovative re-use of recycled materials and boost NSW’s overall recycling capacity.
Coffs Harbour Paper and Oil general manager Sam Fifita said the funding will enable the business to remove more plastics from landfill.
“We will purchase a bale press and importantly concrete our yard to ensure quality control measures,” Mr Fifita said.
“We spoke with business and groups across the region and came up with a workable solution to recycling issues.
“This is a great outcome and great news for the recycling industry in the Coffs Coast region. As the ‘guinea pig’ for rolling out this innovative process nationally, we can’t wait to get cracking.”
Mr Conaghan said plastics will be collected from businesses including shopping centres, warehouses, showrooms and large farms, before being transported to an upgraded recycling facility and be processed to be sold for remanufacturing.
The $190 million Recycling Modernisation Fund investment, and measures to support Australia’s National Waste Policy Action Plan, will create approximately 10,000 new jobs all around Australia over the next ten years.
For details of all NSW projects: https://environment.nsw.gov.au/funding-and-support/nsw-environmental-trust/grants-available/remanufacture-nsw
For further information on the Recycling Modernisation Fund: https://www.environment.gov.au/protection/waste/how-we-manage-waste/recycling-modernisation-fund
