Business Support Fund open for another round

The Circular Economy Business Innovation Centre (CEBIC) is delivering the second round of the Recycling Victoria Business Support Fund on behalf of the Victorian Government.

Building a circular economy isn’t just about recycling. Funding of $4.34 million will be awarded to projects that help to avoid waste, use materials more efficiently and create new jobs in Victoria.

Grants of up to $1 million are available for business case development and implementation-ready projects.

Applications are now open and close on Thursday 7 July 2022 at 11:59 pm.

Eligible projects include, but are not limited, to those that:

• avoid waste of products and materials
• extend the useful life of products
• increase shared use, access, or ownership of products
• replace products with services.

Projects that upcycle waste from food and textile production are also eligible.

The Fund will award grants of between $50,000 and $1 million across 2 streams of funding:

• Stream 1: Develop a circular economy business case
• Stream 2: Implement a circular economy business case.

To learn more about the the Recycling Victoria Business Support Fund, register for our information session on Tuesday 7 June from 3 pm to 4 pm.

Building on previous success

Round 1 of the Fund primarily targeted waste avoidance and jobs, by supporting the identification and implementation of circular economy business opportunities.

Some successful recipients from Round 1 that are embracing circular economy business models include:

• Fresh Select – establishing a Victorian-first food processing hub that will upcycle surplus vegetables and by-products into food and ingredients. In turn, they will help local growers achieve 100 per cent crop utilisation, while minimising food waste on farms, pack-houses and in food manufacturing..
• Innovative Mechatronics Group – developing a circular economy business model to create Australia’s first scalable reuse and recycling program for retired lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles.

For the full list of round 1 recipients, see CEBIC funded projects.

Victorian Government’s circular economy plan

The Business Support Fund is supported by the Victorian Government’s circular economy policy, Recycling Victoria: a new economy. The plan will build Victoria’s circular economy and transform how our state reuses, repairs and recycles.