Four recycling projects in Victoria are progressing with funding already secured under the Recycling Modernisation Fund (RMF), as a new funding round opens to support additional plastics recycling projects across the state.
The four funded projects will increase Victoria’s plastics recycling capacity by an estimated 16,700 tonnes a year and focus on materials that are difficult to recycle, including soft plastics and agricultural packaging.
The projects are:
- Pact Recycling (Cheltenham): the bagMUSTER project will recover and recycle bags used to transport seed, fertiliser, pesticides and stockfeed.
- APR (Dandenong): a soft plastic sorting capacity upgrade using an infra-red process from Norway to improve sorting and recycling capability, including end-of-life soft plastics.
- Australian Soft Plastics Recycling (Pakenham): a facility upgrade to increase processing capacity and improve the quality of recycled low-density polyethylene films, such as pallet wrap collected from supermarket warehouses.
- RE4ORM (Barnawartha): a facility upgrade to recover low-density plastics for reuse in the manufacture of new recycled products.
The government contribution to the four projects totals $3.5 million, split evenly between the Australian Government and the Victorian Government.
Including these projects, the RMF is supporting 27 projects in Victoria with $79 million in joint funding, comprising $44.7 million from the Australian Government and $34.3 million from the Victorian Government. The projects are expected to add 328,000 tonnes of recycling capacity each year and attract $226.5 million in investment in recycling infrastructure across the state.
At the same time, Round 6 of the Recycling Modernisation Fund has opened, making a further $4 million in joint Australian and Victorian Government funding available for new projects that improve the recovery and local processing of hard-to-recycle plastics. Applications are open to Victorian reprocessors, manufacturers, social enterprises, local governments and other eligible organisations, and close on 1 July 2026 or once funding is fully allocated.
Murray Watt, federal minister for the Environment and Water, said, “Australia’s transition to a circular economy is well underway, and this new infrastructure in Victoria marks an important step in transforming how we manage plastic waste.
“Plastics remain a complex waste challenge. By building recycling capability here in Victoria, we’re making real progress in recovering materials that would otherwise go to landfill.”
Steve Dimopoulos, Victorian minister for Environment, said, “We’re investing in a cleaner future for all Victorians by supporting new infrastructure to recycle and recover more plastic waste.
“These projects will strengthen Victoria’s capacity to manage plastic waste from pallet wrap to agricultural feed bags and soft plastics, ensuring more materials are recovered, reused, and kept in productive circulation.”
Mark Dreyfus KC MP, member for Isaacs, said, “This investment is a great step forward and will help Victoria recycle more of the hard-to-recycle plastics into new products that would otherwise end up in landfill. It supports local jobs, and it helps make recycling work better for the community and for the environment.”
Ryan Batchelor, member for Southern Metropolitan, said strengthening recycling and recovery industries would create jobs while keeping local environments and communities clean.
The RMF supports states and territories to expand capacity to sort, process and remanufacture waste materials including plastic, glass, tyres, paper and cardboard. The Australian Government is investing more than $200 million through the program, contributing towards $1 billion in combined investment with states, territories and industry.
