Northern TAS Circular Economy Grants Awarded
News and Events / Projects
Reducing plastic, eliminating food waste and repurposing hearing aids to those in need are some of the innovations to come from a circular economy grants round.
Almost $200,000 has been awarded to seven Northern Tasmanian businesses to support their move from a “take it, make it, break it, bin it” lifecycle to one that reuses, repairs, repurposes and recycles.
Recipients include Stillwater, Bradys Lookout Cider, The Udderway, Tamar Hearing, Envorinex, Isaac Williams Design Objects and City Mission:
- The Udder Way has designed a reusable milk keg for cafes
- Stillwater is turning food waste into compost
- Tamar Hearing is repurposing hearing aids
- Envorinex is making guideposts from recycled plastic with an end of life take-back scheme
- Bradys Lookout Cider is using wood waste to make biochar to filter water
- City Mission is expanding its FOGO business
- Isaac Williams is reprocessing timber pallets into functional and artistic furniture.
The grants were a COVID-19 care and recovery initiative from local government building off the existing work of the Northern Tasmanian Waste Management Group and delivered in partnership with Northern Tasmania Development Corporation.
Stillwater co-owner Bianca Welsh said the restaurant and accommodation business was keen to explore options to reduce its environmental footprint.
“Restaurants can produce a lot of waste, particularly with food scraps,” she said. “We were stoked to put in our application to minimise our impact and turn our food waste into something useful with the help of a super-fast composter. We feel we have a responsibility to ensure we are best practice across all of our operations to preserve our ecosystem in Tasmania.”
NTWMG chairman and George Town Council general manager Shane Power said the circular economy grants were another example of Councils and the NTWMG driving innovation to deliver positive environmental outcomes and facilitate new economic activity.
“The grants have attracted businesses wanting to drive value from materials that may have otherwise ended up in landfill or stockpiles,” Mr Power said.
NTDC chief executive Mark Baker said the diversity of the grant recipients was really exciting as they came from not-for-profit, for-profit, artistic and social impact organisations.
“Each recipient has looked at how their organisation can reduce waste and add value to resources in their supply chain and come up with some really innovative circular economy solutions,” Mr Baker said.
Read more about the grant recipient’s and their projects on the NTDC website
