Victoria Circular Economy Recycling Modernisation Fund (Round 5): Information bulletin

Welcome.

This is a presentation on Round 5 of the Victorian Circular Economy Recycling Modernisation Fund and contains important information on the funding, eligibility and how to apply.

This is the content for the presentation. You can skip forward to any of the sections by going to the timestamp indicated next to that item.

The Circular Economy Recycling Modernisation Fund, which I will refer to as the Fund from here on, is being co-funded by the Australian and Victorian governments with a current joint investment of over $88 million. This is part of a national strategy to change the way Australia looks at waste, grow our economy, protect our environment and reach a national resource recovery target of 80% by 2030.

The aim of the National Recycling Modernisation Fund is to generate $600 million of recycling investment and drive a billion dollar transformation of Australia's waste and recycling capacity. Round 5 of the fund will support investment in infrastructure to sort, process and remanufacture hard-to-recycle plastics.

The Recycling Victoria a New Economy Policy is a $380 million ten-year action plan to fundamentally transform our recycling sector, reduce waste, create thousands of jobs and set Victoria up for a more sustainable future. Circular Economy will drive investment in jobs and increase the processing capacity of waste in the recycling industry.

The reforms will be delivered alongside investment and innovation as a comprehensive package to provide reliable services and a strong industry for the future, which you all will play a huge part in and will make these services meet and exceed community expectations.

The aim of the fund remains the same in previous rounds; to support recycling infrastructure, that will build the capacity, capability and resilience of Victoria's resource recovery sector, to prepare businesses for the implementation of the national regulation of waste exports, increase the quality of materials for remanufacturing and create jobs in the circular economy.

The fund will provide State and Australian Government grants for secondary sorting, reprocessing and manufacturing of projects that will purchase, install and Commission new equipment and existing facilities operated by the applicant.

The Fund will address hard-to-recycle plastics, which are plastics in waste streams where; there are very low recovery and recycling rates due to difficulties in recycling, or, limited infrastructure and technology solutions to support circularity in the supply chain.

Funding will be provided to applicants that wish to purchase, install and commission equipment with the intention of increasing domestic reprocessing capacity, improving the quality of materials including secondary sorting and/or increase the use of recycled content in manufacturing.

$1.7 million will be made available for Australian businesses, local government entities, and social enterprises, as well as not-for-profit organisations.

Applicants must co-contribute at least $1 for every $1 funded for the applicants investing in eligible activities within their projects.

Investment leverage will be a key consideration as part of the application assessment. Higher investments from applicants is looked upon favourably.

SV will accept applications requesting funding between $250,000, and $1 million, and SV reserves the right to negotiate the funding amount. Funding from other government sources, including federal, state or local cannot be included in your portion of the co-contribution.

Please take the time to read the guidelines.

In the past, it's been clear that not everyone has read them, but it is really critical that you read them and understand the objectives and eligibility requirements of the fund.

This is to ensure that you are eligible before you put in the effort of applying for funding.

The second tip is to start your application early so that you have time to gather the evidence required.

We also recommend that applicants engage with SV's Investment Support Services before submitting their application to ensure that their project is investment ready and set up for success.

SV's Grant Enquiries team are available to respond to any queries about eligibility or how to apply the grant. They cannot review drafts or provide feedback. However, SV does offer a free investment facilitation service which I will explain how to access in a minute.

This service can tell you what you need to have in place for your project and provide connections within the industry. More information about this service is available on the SV website.

Please note that the Investment Facilitation Service cannot advise if your project is eligible or if it will be funded.

Finally, where possible, provide evidence to support your statements that you are making in your application and clearly explain what your project will achieve and why it's important for Victoria.

Do not assume that the assessors will have prior knowledge about your organisation, the type of project you're proposing or in-depth industry experience.

These are some of the considerations to keep in mind when the assessment panel are considering whether or not your project is investment ready.

If you can answer "yes" to all or most of these questions, your application will have the best possible chance of success.

If the answer to any of these questions is "no", it doesn't mean that your project won't be funded. It means that you need to consider how to address them in the application, including the risk management plan. For example, if you do not have secured feedstock, which can be the case for some of these projects, you should provide detail on the availability of the feedstock in the market, the amount required by the plant to ensure financial stability for the operation and also how you plan to secure this feedstock, including any potential suppliers you may have approached and any key dependencies in securing feedstock.

The Infrastructure Investment Team at Sustainability Victoria offers targeted support for projects and companies investing in Victoria's circular economy.

As part of this funding, the team provides a free application review and advisory service. This is available for select programs that target priority circular economy infrastructure.

The team cannot answer questions in regard to the program eligibility or guidelines. These must be directed to our Grants Enquiries team. However, the team can review your grant application and provide feedback and suggestions on areas that may help to strengthen your application and business case before you submit. They are unable to provide any feedback on the prospects of your application. The team is separate and removed from the independent grant assessment process and use of this service does not guarantee the success of your application.

Prior to accessing this service, confirm that you're eligible, as outlined in the guidelines. If you are unsure, please contact the Grants Enquiries Team.

Complete your application in full in SmartyGrants, but do not submit it. If you do accidentally submit your application, you can contact Grants Enquiries and they can reopen it for you. Download your Smarty Grants application as a PDF.

Send your draft application for review at least one week before the program application deadline. However, we ask for you to send it as early as possible so that the team can review and provide you with feedback and still allow enough time for you to make any changes before submitting your final application.

Subject to the volume of applications received, and the timing of your request, SV cannot guarantee your application will be reviewed before the application closing date.

Additionally, requests for extensions will not be considered in the event that you are unable to receive feedback on your application before the round closing date.

I will now discuss the eligibility criteria of the fund.

We will start with "Who will be funded?".

As I mentioned, eligible organisations must be one of the following organisation types: An Australian business, a Victorian local government entity, a social enterprise who must be currently

registered with social traders or prove accreditation before entering into a funding agreement or other not-for-profit organisations, ideally registered on the ACNC Charity Register.

Eligible applicants must have a current Australian Business Number, have been operating in Australia for a minimum of two years by the application closing date.

Must meet or exceed the minimum co-contribution requirements, agree to comply with the terms of participation in grants programs which is available via the Guidelines, agree to comply with the terms and conditions of the General funding Agreement and agree to implement recycling content traceability consistent with the National Framework for Recycled Content Traceability, which I will discuss further shortly.

They must also submit their Fair Jobs Code pre-assessment certificate number or application number with the application if they're applying for $500,000 or more.

Information on the Fair Jobs Code is published on our Terms of Participation, which is accessible through the online guidelines. Applicants and project partners must have adequate insurance.

They must not have failed to meet program timelines with other SV funded programs without sufficient rationale.

Must not have failed to address an environmental or safety breach in the last five years or if there was a breach that it has been satisfactorily addressed and they must not have a current industrial relations investigation or prosecution in the last five years. The Australian government has developed a national framework for recycled content traceability.

As these projects are co-funded by the Commonwealth, it is a condition of funding that all applicants agree to implement the recycle content traceability if they're successful.

The Framework is a national guideline that aims to improve trust in recycled materials. It does this by guiding businesses to collect and share information about recycled materials.

It helps Australian governments set clear and consistent traceability rules for recycled content that helps businesses to meet those rules.

The Framework itself is voluntary and available to businesses of all sizes in the supply chain. It applies to all recycled materials and recycled content products in Australia. It allows businesses to choose the best way to trace and recycle materials for their needs.

The information presented on this slide is from the Australian Government's website on the National Framework for Recycled Content Traceability.

If you would like more information, please contact the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water through the website on your screen.

And now I'll go over what is eligible for funding.

Funding will support projects that meet one or more of the fund objectives:

operate an existing facility that increases processing capability and capacity or improves the quality of hard-to-recycle plastics to meet product specifications or for products for remanufacture or use.

Projects must target hard-to-recycle plastics, which are plastics in the waste streams where there are very low recovery and recycling rates due to difficulties in recycling or limited infrastructure and technology solutions to support circularity in the supply chain.

Projects must also be aligned with the Recycling Victoria: a New Economy policy and the Australian Government's national regulation of waste exports.

In order to be eligible, projects must also source more than 50% of materials from Victoria, meet all of your regulatory and planning requirements, be located in and service Victoria, enter into a funding agreement within 60 days of being notified of a successful outcome, and be commissioned and operational by the 30th of April 2026 to align with Australian Government time frames.

Project types include purchase, installation and commissioning of new equipment or upgrades to existing equipment.

Eligible project costs include capital purchases for equipment only, including the shipping of this equipment, installation and commissioning of the equipment.

And now, what won't be funded.

Projects will be ineligible if they require any building, construction or civil works, have commenced the project before signing the funding agreement.

However, once you have been notified in writing that you are successful, and we anticipate this to be in September, equipment can be ordered at the applicant’s own risk.

Once you've been notified that the application is successful, project equipment can be ordered to accommodate shipping and delivery time frames and prevent delays in completing the project. However, if applicants fail to execute a funding agreement, their eligible costs will not be reimbursed.

Projects will also be ineligible if they're undertaken solely to comply with regulation, or a regulatory notice, or if the focus is on materials not listed in the guidelines. If the focus is on energy as the main outcome, from energy from waste solutions; if it seeks to extend capacity for accepting or sorting of unsorted materials, for example, transfer stations and material recovery facilities.

Projects will also be ineligible if they seek to use the equipment to solely manage their own waste generated from their operations and do not use the equipment to provide services to external customers, for example, processing only the waste generated by their own primary business activities.

As listed in the guidelines in kind contributions, and a number of costs are not eligible for funding and cannot be counted towards your co-contribution either.

I'm not going to read all of these out to you as you can review this on our website. However, I do want to highlight some that we often give feedback about.

Civil works and other site preparation works; Previously we have funded this activity. however given the short timing of the project delivery, we are focusing on simple projects.

Purchase of vehicles; for example, this includes front end loaders, excavators and forklifts.

Cost of equipment not dedicated to the project purpose; this includes the establishment of an office, including the building and fit out.

Leasing of equipment; this includes leasing equipment during the installation and commissioning of your projects such as cranes.

Training your staff to operate the equipment is not covered by this program.

Neither government funding nor your co-contribution can be applied to any of the costs listed here.

The application forms are structured in a way that makes it clear which questions fall under which criteria and different weightings apply to the various assessment criteria.

In your responses to the questions across all the criteria, it is really important that you address the questions and support your statements with evidence.

Your project may be technologically and financially viable, have fantastic potential outcomes and a great team to deliver it.

However, without supporting evidence, the assessment panel cannot assess the validity of your statements.

I'll provide some examples of what we're looking for as we go through the criteria.

It is also important to note that after you have submitted your application, we cannot come back to you asking for additional information.

We can only ask for clarification on information provided that isn't clear. I'll now go through each of the four assessment criteria.

The waiting for "How" is 30%.

Under the "How" criteria, applicants will be assessed on how well they've demonstrated viability to successfully deliver the project, including their financial viability.

Some examples of supporting evidence we are looking for is: proof of site ownership, or lease agreements, and council planning approval and relevant EPA permissions.

We are also looking for realistic and achievable timelines for the projects to ensure that they can be delivered within the required time frames. And in addition, an overview of the project expenditure, and how you intend to finance the required co-contribution.

The next section is "What" and the waiting for this criteria is 30%.

Under the "What" you'll be asked to demonstrate the project meets one or more of the fund objectives, which are listed in both the guidelines and the application form.

The project should make sense to the strategic goals of your organisation, so we are wanting you to demonstrate how it aligns with your organisation vision for the future. Or, perhaps how the project will support strategic goals, such as the growth or stability of your existing operations.

This is also where you need to demonstrate that funding requested is for equipment only, including your quotes for technology with delivery time frames, and that you have confirmed your market supply of the material, feedstocks and demand for the processed products.

The next section is "Who". This criteria is worth 20%.

Under the "Who" criteria, the assessment panel will be looking for applications that demonstrate participants capability and capacity to successfully deliver the project. For example, if your organisation or project partners have experience delivering similar infrastructure projects. We are looking for details on what these projects were, any challenges or setbacks in delivery and how these were overcome. Also, the project outcomes achieved.

More generally, we also want to know what project management and governance processes you have in place, and we want to ensure that you have internal approval to proceed with the project, so that you can commence with limited delays.

The last criteria section is "Why". Under the "Why" criteria, which is weighted at 20%, projects will be assessed on: why the project is needed, why government financial assistance is needed, benefits that the project will provide and how it aligns with the priorities of the government, including jobs and how it addresses the priority material, being hard-to-recycle plastics. Again here, any statements should be supported by evidence where possible.

In terms of demonstrating the need for government financial assistance, we recognise that there is a conflict here in terms of the projects needing to be viable and also demonstrating the need for funding.

The key here is to explain potential outcomes with and without government support. For example, what are the impacts on capacity or delivery timing if financial assistance is or isn't provided?

An important part of the assessment process is for SV to complete due diligence on applications, similar to if you were applying for a bank loan or seeking private sector investment in your project.

During these checks, SV looks at compliance issues, financial viability of the applicant and project partners, adequate insurances and any conflicts of interest and delivery history with SV.

SV may use a contracted third party to undertake financial viability checks. However, we will notify you prior to any external parties contacting you, and any information you provide to satisfy these checks will be considered commercial-in-confidence.

The results of these due diligence checks then form part of a risk-based assessment of the project.

Before you start your application, please ensure that your project meets the eligibility and assessment criteria. Please read and understand the Guidelines, the Terms of Participation in the Grant Program and the General Funding Agreement, all of which are linked in the Guidelines.

The next step is to register or log in to SmartyGrants to start your application. The link to the SmartyGrants platform can be found with the funding guidelines. The first page of the application form in SmartyGrants is an eligibility check.

If you have any questions on your eligibility, please get in touch with SV's Grants team via the Grants Enquiries email.

Next, review the questions on the application form. Once you have completed the eligibility

check, you should be able to navigate through the application form to see all of the questions.

You may also wish to download a preview of the application form so that you can see all the questions that will be asked, and start preparing your responses.

Note that some of the fields in the preview of the application form are conditional, so you may not have to answer every question that you see in the preview. Once you start completing the form, you'll see what is just relevant to your project.

Ensure that you plan, research, and gather information for your application as early as possible to give your application the best chance of success.

The application form will take some time to complete, and we recommend that you start the bulk of your application no later than two to three weeks before the closing date. Particularly so you have time to get any letters of support, quotes and internal approvals, or other documentation that you might need.

The SmartyGrants system means that you can save and go back anytime. Please save frequently. Make sure that you complete all the required questions in the application form and upload any supporting documentation.

You must complete and submit your application via SmartyGrants.

On submission, you will receive an electronic reply from SmartyGrants acknowledging the receipt of your application. Sometimes emails from SmartyGrants go to your spam folder, so please check those before contacting SV for assistance.

Late applications will not be accepted except under exceptional circumstances which are outlined in the Terms of Participation in Grants Programs.

If your computer or Internet connection is prone to meltdowns, we suggest submitting your application early.

If you need support with any of these steps, you can contact Grants Enquiries and that brings the information session to a close.

Please feel free to reach out to the Grants team at grants.enquiries@sustainability.vic.gov.au. All enquiries will be responded to in writing.

Thank you for your interest in the fund and all the best with your application.