Cootamundra has recently received $800,000 in co-funding to support the delivery of new and improved recycling infrastructure in town.
There was more than $4.8 million in co-funding announced through the Australian and NSW governments, with Cootamundra securing a fair chunk of the pie.
Cootamundra is one of eight fortunate regions to receive a recycling infrastructure grant.
The funding to eight regional towns supports the NSW Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy, which aims to achieve an 80 per cent average resource recovery rate from all waste streams by 2030.
The $800,000 will go towards projects that will help find solutions to improve the reycling of waste into usable material.
The money used to create these new facilities will also directly provide jobs locally for those in the region, equaling to more than 60 new full-time jobs during the construction phase and over 35 new ongoing roles.
Molycop, based in Cootamundra, will receive $840,000 of NSW and Australian government funding to upgrade its Cootamundra facility to create reusable products.
“The Cootamundra facility will have the capacity to do even more in the circular economy space with this 50-50 co-investment from the Federal and New South Wales governments,” Mr McCormack said.
“The improvements to the Cootamundra facility will take 8,150 tonnes of waste out of landfill once fully operational. This is about helping our environment as well growing our recycling industry and creating jobs.
“The upgrades will enable the facility to recover steel so that it can be supplied to Molycop’s manufacturing facility in Waratah to build on the company’s quest to produce Green Steel in NSW.”
The facility will collect waste tyres and high-density polyethylene plastics from regional NSW and will be made into recycled substitutes for local steel, plastics and asphalt industries.
Tim Warren