What is the National Product Stewardship Investment Fund?
The National Product Stewardship Investment Fund is a grant opportunity to accelerate work on new product stewardship schemes and/or improve rates of recycling across new and existing schemes.
Background
The National Product Stewardship Investment Fund is a $20 million election commitment that will run over four years from 2019-20 to 2022-23. The program forms part of the Australian Government’s $167 million Australian Recycling Investment Plan and National Waste Policy Action Plan to increase Australia’s recycling rates, tackle plastic waste and litter, and halve food waste by 2030.
The objectives of the program are to:
- accelerate work on new industry-led product stewardship schemes, and
- improve the rates of recycling across new and existing schemes.
The intended outcomes of the program are:
- increased number of new, and an expansion of, existing industry-led product stewardship schemes
- increased availability of, access to, and use of product recycling schemes
- increased rates of recycled materials and reduced waste to landfill, and
- contribute to the national target of 80 per cent resource recovery by 2030 under the National Waste Policy Action Plan.
Funding
The grant amount will be up to 100 per cent of eligible project expenditure (grant percentage).
- The minimum grant amount is $300,000
- The maximum grant amount is $1 million.
Eligible Projects
To be eligible your project must:
- have a national reach or support a product stewardship scheme that has or is developing a national reach
- deliver against one or both National Product Stewardship Investment Fund objectives:
- development of a new product stewardship scheme, or
- improve recycling rates of an existing or new product stewardship scheme, including through seeking and implementing efficiencies within the scheme or across multiple schemes.
Eligible activities may include:
- business case development:
- development of product design or end-of-life management options through research, including conducting material flow analysis, product impact analysis, stakeholder mapping, and analysis of industry capacity and capability
- detailed assessments including cost benefit analysis, technical feasibility studies, and market analysis
- scheme design, including:
- identifying governance models for scheme administrators
- identifying existing standards or developing new standards, quality assurance or supply chain assurance models
- identifying domestic and international legal requirements to operate the proposed scheme
- considering options and consulting with industry to identify the best scheme model
- scheme implementation, including:
- establishing a governance structure to administer the scheme
- establishing management and reporting systems including quality and supply chain assurance
- Australian Competition and Consumer Commission authorisation process or other statutory approvals, including Environmental Protection Agency approvals
- stakeholder engagement and industry recruitment
- scheme trials
- awareness raising
Eligible Applicants
To be eligible you must have an Australian Business Number (ABN) and be one of the following incorporated entities:
- an incorporated not for profit organisation
- an incorporated trustee on behalf of a trust
- an incorporated association
- a company
- a company limited by guarantee
Scheme administrators of regulated federal or state government product stewardship schemes can be eligible if the proposed project is not related to a regulated scheme. For example, a co-regulatory scheme administrator under the National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme (NTCRS) could apply for funding to develop a scheme for a product that is not regulated under the NTCRS.
If applying as a not for profit organisation you must demonstrate your ‘not for profit’ status through one of the following:
- State or Territory incorporated association registration number or certificate of incorporation, e.g. clubs and other associations
- current Australian Charities and Not for profits Commission’s (ACNC) registration, e.g. for organisations registered as a charity
- constitutional documents that demonstrate the not for profit character of the organisation
- legislation that demonstrates the not for profit nature of the organisation, e.g. religious organisations incorporated under legislation.
Joint applications are acceptable, provided you have a lead organisation who is the main driver of the project and is eligible to apply.
Timing
Applications close 21 August 2020.
Recipients
| Organisation | Title | Project description | Grant amount (excl GST) | Completion date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dairy Australia Limited | A Circular Economy for Silage Wrap | This project will assess the requirements for a successful and resilient product stewardship scheme and then, if feasible, run regional pilots before moving to national implementation. | $965,400 | 30/03/2023 |
| Equilibrium OMG Pty Ltd | SeatCare | This project will finalise a design and implement a product stewardship scheme for old, unwanted or obsolete child car safety seats. | $930,000 | 31/03/2023 |
| Australian Bedding Stewardship Council Limited | Launch a national product stewardship scheme for mattresses and bedding | This project will design and implement a product stewardship scheme for used mattresses and used bedding. | $937,700 | 30/10/2022 |
| Australasian Circular Textile Association Ltd | Circular Threads | This project will develop a business case and design a product stewardship scheme to collect, reuse and recycle uniforms and workwear. | $360,510 | 26/01/2023 |
| RM Consulting Group Pty Ltd | National Non-Packaging Agricultural Plastics Stewardship Scheme | This project will develop a business case and complete a scheme design, then run two 6-month pilots in South-East Queensland and Victoria for non-packaging agricultural plastics. | $893,866 | 31/03/2023 |
| Close The Loop Ltd. | Developing a National Cosmetics Circular Economy | This project will develop a cosmetic waste stewardship scheme, including a centralised network to collect, process and recirculate used cosmetic packaging. | $999,019 | 30/06/2022 |
| Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation Limited | A comprehensive product stewardship framework for plastic oil containers | This project will develop a business case, then design and implement a product stewardship scheme for used plastic oil containers. | $632,000 | 31/03/2023 |
| Australian Food and Grocery Council Limited | National Plastics Recycling Scheme | This project will bring the food and grocery supply chain together to deliver a national scheme to enhance the collection and processing of plastic packaging and increase the use of recycled content. The scheme aims to increase the recovery of plastics by an estimated 189,700 tonnes per year. | $985,866 | 31/03/2023 |
| Closed Loop Environmental Solutions Pty Ltd | Simply Cups expansion and enhancement project | This project will expand the Simply Cups product stewardship scheme to all states and territories; while undertaking research to ensure products manufactured from the recycled cups meet industry specifications. | $697,200 | 31/12/2022 |
| Asaleo Personal Care Pty Ltd | Project Divert | This project will establish a new industry-led product stewardship scheme for commercial facilities to recycle used absorbent hygiene product; a considered problematic waste that typically ends up in landfill. | $561,031 | 30/12/2022 |
| Planet Ark Environmental Foundation | National coffee capsule product stewardship recycling scheme | This project will establish a national product stewardship scheme to collect and recycle all brands and types of coffee capsules (pods). | $940,000 | 30/09/2022 |
| Vinyl Council Of Australia | TexBack: PVC-Polyester Textiles Stewardship Scheme | This project will develop the business case and design a national product stewardship scheme for PVC coated polyester textiles. | $349,850 | 30/06/2022 |
| Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association Limited | Business Case to expand MobileMuster | This project will develop a business case to expand the scope of MobileMuster’s e-waste collection to include electronic products that are currently not covered by other product stewardship programs. | $373,200 | 31/01/2022 |
| Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation Ltd – supported by Greenlife Industry Australia | Polypropylene Plant Packaging Recycling Program | This project will design and implement a national, industry-led, plant packaging product stewardship scheme. | $549,000 | 30/01/2023 |
| BioPak Pty Ltd | The Compost Network | This project will enhance and expand the Compost Network, an organic recycling initiative and online platform providing businesses with access to a product stewardship scheme for organic waste and compostable packaging. | $398,000 | 31/12/2022 |
