News and updates

17 December 2024

Expressions of interest (EOI) applications are invited from applicants wishing to apply for a waste to energy cap licence.

EOI applications are open to new operators as well as existing operators who wish to increase the volume of permitted waste processed by their facility.

A cap licence will allow a waste to energy facility operator to process permitted waste up to a specified maximum amount at their facility.

The cap on permitted waste that is treated in thermal waste to energy processes will ensure investment in waste to energy facilities does not compromise current and future investment in Victoria’s efforts to avoid, reuse and recycle more waste.

Recycling Victoria regulates the market-related aspects of thermal waste to energy processes under the Waste to Energy Scheme. Recycling Victoria licenses operators to ensure they use only specific amounts and types of waste that would otherwise be destined to landfill.

Facilities will still require approvals from other regulators, such as the Environment Protection Authority Victoria and planning approvals.

EOI applications close on 17 February 2025.

For more information on how submit an EOI visit our Waste to Energy Scheme page.

4 November 2024

Recycling Victoria has released its 2023–24 Annual Report on the operation of the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021 (CE Act).

Recycling Victoria was created to provide leadership, stewardship and oversight of Victoria’s waste, recycling and resource recovery sector to support a strong and resilient circular economy with robust market investment and growth.

During our second year of operation, we continued to work closely with industry, local government and our state government partners. We have delivered the first Circular Economy Risk, Consequence and Contingency Plan and the first Circular Economy Market Report.

We have significantly progressed the development of the Strategic Procurement Framework and the Victorian Recycling Infrastructure Plan, which will guide infrastructure investment in the sector over the coming decades.

Another significant milestone is the Container Deposit Scheme, with 628 million containers returned between its start on 1 November 2023 and 30 June 2024, returning more than $62.8 million to Victorians.

Also, we concluded the first stage in the Waste to Energy Scheme with the issuing of 4 existing operator licences. In June 2024 we began community
consultation on the draft Household Waste and Recycling Service Standard.

View our Annual Report  

1 November 2024

Victoria’s container deposit scheme (CDS Vic’s) first birthday coincides with the collection of 1 billion containers. This outstanding result reflects the strong platform built over this first year and the willingness of Victorians to participate in the scheme to improve environmental outcomes.

CDS Vic is processing an average of around 20 million cans, cartons and bottles across the state every week and has put $100 million back into the pockets of Victorians, since its launch on 1 November 2023.

An important part of building Victoria’s circular economy, the scheme ensures both a cleaner environment and results in high-value materials which are in great demand by the remanufacturing sector.

The economic benefits of CDS are impressive and growing. In addition to the generation of 597 new jobs, CDS Vic provides charities, schools, sports clubs, and community organisations new ways to raise funds.

More than $950,000 has been generated in donations to not-for-profit groups through the generosity of Victorian’s who have elected to donate their refund to a registered donation partner. More than 4,200 not-for-profit organisations, charities, schools, sports clubs or community organisations have got on board and become a registered donation partner.

The economic benefits generated by CDS Vic extends to opportunities for community groups such as disability, social justice and community organisations to operate refund collection points. By operating a refund point these organisations have been able to generate an income stream through receiving a handling fee for each container returned while also creating valuable employment opportunities.

CDS Vic now has over 20,000 eligible container products registered. Eligible containers can be returned at around 650 refund collection points throughout Victoria. This extensive network of collection points across metropolitan and regional Victora makes the scheme convenient and accessible to all Victorians.

The container deposit scheme is an important part of building Victoria’s circular economy, including building awareness and confidence in these schemes with the community and industry.

To find your nearest refund point, visit the CDS Vic website.

23 October 2024

Recycling Victoria is pleased to release the inaugural Victorian Recycling Infrastructure Plan (VRIP).

The VRIP provides investors in the Victorian circular economy with a road map to guide decision-making on waste, recycling, and resource recovery infrastructure over the next 30 years.

It includes:

• key waste streams and their market structure
• investment drivers
• potential investment opportunities that will strengthen the sector, the wider Victorian economy, and contribute to job creation.
• information to support land use planning and development locations

Recycling Victoria has also produced an investment prospectus that highlights investment opportunities and supports, which has been developed in partnership with government agencies who facilitate Victorian business growth.

To support the release of the VRIP, Recycling Victoria is running a series of information sessions that focus on infrastructure investment opportunities and stimulating further investment in the circular economy.

The VRIP is a critical component in building Victoria’s circular economy with the benefits it will bring to the wider state economy and to employment in the sector.

Find out more, view the documents and register for an information session

Recycling Victoria will soon be releasing the inaugural Victorian Recycling Infrastructure Plan (VRIP).

The VRIP is a major step forward in Victoria’s transition to a circular economy. It provides investors with a contemporary road map to guide decision-making on waste, recycling and resource recovery infrastructure over the next 30 years.

A number of online and in-person information sessions will be delivered around the state (October to December 2024) to support the upcoming release of the VRIP and focus on supporting infrastructure investment in the waste, recycling and resource recovery sector.

There will be 2 online sessions in October that will provide an overview of the VRIP and how Recycling Victoria can support infrastructure investment.

This will be followed by 6 in-person events across the state during November and early December that will consider local infrastructure opportunities in regional Victoria and Melbourne.

Register to attend one of our information sessions

Victorians have returned a staggering 750 million containers since the launch of CDS Vic on 1 November 2023.

That’s $75 million back into the pockets of Victorians including through donations to charity and community groups.

CDS Vic is an important part of building Victoria’s circular economy.

Its benefits include a reduction in litter and new economic opportunities – particularly for many socially disadvantaged groups, community clubs and charities as well as generating hundreds of new jobs.

Eligible containers can be returned at refund collection points across Victoria. The scheme is helping to create clean streams of high-value materials for recycling.

Find out more about how the scheme works at www.vic.gov.au/cds-vic.

Consultation on the draft Strategic Procurement Framework is open on the Engage Victoria website from 12 Aug - 20 Sept 2024.

A key function of Recycling Victoria is to support best practice procurement management by councils, Alpine Resorts Victoria and service providers for waste, recycling, and resource recovery services.

Throughout 2023, Recycling Victoria worked with stakeholders to gather feedback that has informed the development of a draft Strategic Procurement Framework.

This framework defines how we intend to deliver this legislative function, the potential support that we may provide, and how we will prioritise the procurement activities that we support.

Have your say through the Engage Victoria website.

On July 1 we celebrated Recycling Victoria’s 2nd anniversary and looked back on another eventful year.

We’ve continued to make progress on our priorities and have worked closely with partner organisations to deliver initiatives and services, including:

• Building our relationships with local government, industry and the waste, recycling and resource recovery sector.
• Overseeing the launch of Victoria's Container Deposit Scheme (CDSVic), which is already creating great outcomes for Victorian communities and the circular economy.
• Publishing Australia’s first Circular Economy Risk, Consequence and Contingency Plan (CERCC Plan) to help identify and manage risks
  to essential services in our sector.
• Completing Stage 1 of the Victorian Government’s Waste to Energy Scheme, by issuing licences to existing operators.
• With our colleagues in Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, developing a service standard for household waste and recycling.
• Publishing the inaugural Circular Economy Market Report, which provides data on key material streams to inform policy and investment decisions.
• Developing the Victorian Recycling Infrastructure Plan (VRIP), to be published this year, which will guide strategic infrastructure planning for our sector over the next 30 years.
• Finalising our organisational structure and continuing to define our processes and our regulatory role.

We acknowledge our fantastic and dedicated staff and stakeholders who have contributed to these significant achievements.

Congratulations all.

New data sourced from local government, and the waste and recycling sector is now available on our Data Hub.

The new data shows that Victorian households are increasing their recycling with a higher landfill diversion rate than the national average. This has been supported by increased access to food organics and garden organics (FOGO) collections, with more than half of all Victorian councils now having access to a FOGO service.

Action towards landfill redirection remains a priority, with a range of programs underway including household recycling reforms, the container deposit scheme, Waste to Energy scheme, and investments in increased recycling and resource recovery infrastructure.

Collected annually, this critical data has been used to update the Victorian waste projection model, which forecast waste generation in Victoria till 2050. This data also provides insights into the recycling sector and allows for a better understanding of how material streams are managed in Victoria.

Insights gained from this data will inform government and industry decision making, by identifying opportunities and trends in the Victorian market to achieve a more circular economy.

View the Data Hub.

For more information or to provide feedback, please contact:

Recycling Victoria Data, Insights and Intelligence Team
rvdata@deeca.vic.gov.au

We are pleased to release our first annual Circular Economy Market Report: an overview of Victoria’s progression to a circular economy. The report provides annual information about material circularity relating to the generation, collection, sorting, re-processing or re-manufacturing of products within the circular economy market.

This information will be used to help businesses and the government to make better policy and investment decisions. ​

The Circular Economy Market Report will continue to evolve in future years, as further important work is done to expand measurement of Victoria’s material streams. The report is based on resource recovery rates as a measure of the circular economy market, understanding the current limitations to fully reporting the circularity of each material stream. ​

When a new circular economy metric is established, Victoria will have reached a significant milestone as no other Australian jurisdiction currently has a metric that effectively measures material circularity.

View the Circular Economy Market Report.

28 March 2024