Product stewardship promotes shared responsibility for products we use every day. It is about industry, the public and all levels of government helping to manage the impacts of these products over their whole life, particularly at end-of-life.
These schemes can help to:
- reduce waste and prevent harmful materials from ending up in landfill
- increase recycling and the recovery of valuable materials and accelerate a circular economy.
To support this goal, we set up the National Product Stewardship Investment Fund.
About the fund
The fund aims to increase the number of industry-led product stewardship schemes in Australia and increase the recycling rates of existing schemes.
Applications are now closed for the competitive round.
We offered grants between $300,000 and $1 million. Grants could be used for new schemes or to expand existing schemes.
See a list of successful grant recipients.
Highlights
National Product Stewardship Investment Fund highlights:
- 24 projects funded
- $18.6 million invested
- 1.6+ million tonnes of waste projected to be diverted from landfill
- 1,000+ jobs projected
Access economics reports that recycling waste generates three times more jobs than landfilling, that is 9.2 jobs per 10,000 tonnes versus 2.8 jobs for landfill.
National Product Stewardship Investment Fund factsheets
- ASGA TreadLightly
- Battery Stewardship Council
- Clothing textiles stewardship scheme
- Coffee cup recycling
- End-of-life solutions for PVC coated polyester textiles
- End-of-life vehicle waste management solutions
- Expanding e-waste recycling programs
- Furniture 360 - Designing out waste for commercial furniture and furnishings
- Mining sector equipment recycling
- PODcycle
- Recovering food packaging
- Recycling absorbent hygiene products
- Recycling child car seats
- Recycling commercial furniture
- Recycling cosmetics waste
- Recycling farm plastics
- Recycling mattresses and bedding
- Recycling non-packaging agri-plastics
- Recycling Polypropylene plant packaging
- Recycling used oil containers
- ResiLoop - Stewardship for resilient flooring
- Sports Equipment Product Stewardship
- Turning organic waste into compost
Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence
We have partnered with research and industry groups to set up a Centre of Excellence.
The centre will:
- provide mentoring and best practice guidance
- educate and engage business
- help industry build networks to support national industry-led schemes.
A $1 million grant from the investment fund will support the centre.
Visit the Centre of Excellence website.
Partners
Our successful partner is a consortium that brings together:
- Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney
- Australian Industry Group
- Cox Inall Communications.
Meeting national targets
The National Product Stewardship Investment Fund will help us deliver relevant targets set out in the:
Successful grants
| Organisation | Title | Project description | Grant amount (excl GST) | Completion date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asaleo Personal Care Pty Ltd (Trading as Essity) | Project Divert | This project will establish a new industry-led product stewardship scheme for commercial facilities to recycle used absorbent hygiene product; a problematic waste that typically ends up in landfill. | $561,031 | 30/12/2022 |
| 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 |
| Australia and New Zealand Recycling Platform | Sports Equipment Product Stewardship | This project will design and implement a National Sports Equipment Product Stewardship scheme to recycle sporting equipment. | $669,125 | 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 |
| Australian Fashion Council | Clothing Textiles Stewardship Scheme | The project will design and operationalise an industry-led stewardship scheme for clothing textiles. | $1,000,000 | 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 |
| Australian Resilient Flooring Association | ResiLoop – Stewardship for resilient flooring | This project will design, develop and trial a product stewardship scheme for resilient flooring products. | $1,000,000 | 31/03/2023 |
| 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 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 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 |
| Australian Sporting Goods Association | ASGA TreadLightly | This project will establish a new industry-led program that provides the Australian public with a free sports footwear collection and recycling service. | $998,531 | 31/01/2023 |
| Battery Stewardship Council | Establishing a National Product Stewardship Scheme for Batteries | This project will establish and implement an effective and efficient National Product Stewardship Scheme for batteries in Australia. | $1,000,000 | 31/07/2022 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Dairy Australia Limited | A Circular Economy for Silage Wrap | This project will assess the requirements for a successful and resilient product stewardship scheme and run regional pilots before moving to national implementation. | $965,400 | 30/03/2023 |
| Edge Environment | National Commercial Furniture Product Stewardship Scheme | This project will develop a business case to minimise commercial furniture in landfill and assist in the recycling process. | $372,890 | 30/09/2022 |
| 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 |
| Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries | End-of-life vehicle waste management solutions | This project will design a stewardship scheme, supported by a proof of concept, to address end-of-life vehicle waste in Australia. | $1,000,000 | 31/03/2023 |
| Planet Ark Environmental Foundation | PODcycle - 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 |
| 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 |
| The Australian Furniture Association | Designing out waste for commercial furniture and furnishings | This project will develop a design focused product stewardship scheme for commercial furniture and furnishings. | $1,000,000 | 31/03/2023 |
| Tyre Stewardship Australia | Improving tyre recovery within the mining sector | This project will expand Tyre Stewardship Australia to recycle tyres used in mining, agriculture and aviation, rubber tracks and conveyor belts. | $987,717 | 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 |