The Cootamundra community is taking a leading role in Australia's recycling transformation thanks to co-funding from the Australian and NSW governments to support the delivery of new or improved recycling infrastructure.
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Member for Cootamundra, Steph Cooke said more than $4.8 million in co-funding has been announced, with more than $800,000 being delivered in Cootamundra.
"This is fantastic news for the community in Cootamundra because this co-funding is being delivered to projects that are helping to find solutions for recycling waste," Ms Cooke said.
"These grants are also directly supporting jobs in our region. New infrastructure means new jobs, and these innovative projects will support more than 60 new full-time jobs during the construction phase, and more than 35 new ongoing roles.
"Cootamundra is one of eight regions which received a recycling infrastructure grant.
Molycop in Cootamundra is receiving $840,900 in NSW and Australian Government co-funding to upgrade its Cootamundra facility to create value-added products.
Member for Riverina Michael McCormack said Molycop was doing great work in the recycling industry.
"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 also collect and process waste tyres and rigid high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastics from regional and remote NSW.
These will be remade into recycled substitutes for the local steel, plastics, and asphalt industries.
These eight regional projects support the NSW Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy, which is aiming to achieve an 80 per cent average resource recovery rate from all waste streams by 2030.