The Victorian Government is supporting Victorian businesses and organisations to reduce packaging waste, creating 52 new jobs and diverting more than 5,500 tonnes of waste from landfill each year.

Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio announced 17 Victorian organisations that will have a share in more than $560,000 through the Investment Support Grants – Packaging program to reduce packaging waste in their business operations.

The Investment Support Grants – Packaging program allows small to medium sized businesses, not-for-profit organisations and social enterprises to invest in projects that reduce, recover and reuse packaging materials such as plastics, paper and cardboard.

Among the grants is $35,000 awarded to family-owned business Happy Planet Toys, which manufactures a fully recyclable toy product made from recycled milk bottles.

In addition to reducing packaging, the Government also announced the investment of $1.7 million in grants in 12 projects to improve the collection, storage and reprocessing of e-waste across the state.

This aims to create 37 new jobs, divert 6,600 tonnes of e-plastics from landfill per year and increase e-waste reprocessing capacity by an additional 13,250 tonnes annually.

“We are overhauling Victoria’s recycling system. These packaging and e-waste grants are a small part of Victoria’s recycling revolution,” D’Ambrosio said.

“We are helping businesses to reduce packaging, to give new life to our waste, and reduce the impact of disposable packaging on our environment. Projects like these make it easier for e-waste to be disposed of safely, so it doesn’t end up in landfill.”

The announcement follows the Government’s ban on e-waste to landfill in July 2019, which paved the way for electronic items to be safely disposed of, reducing the harm these items have on the environment and human health and ensuring valuable resources from discarded electronic goods don’t go to waste.

Earlier this year, the Government also announced Recycling Victoria: A new economy – an action plan for waste and recycling, with an investment of more than $300 million to transform the state’s recycling sector, create thousands of jobs and set Victoria up for a more sustainable future.