Image: Brian Talbot
The local government sector in Western Australia has been granted access to $10 million worth of state government grants to support their use of recycled construction and demolition waste in their civil engineering projects such as building roads, car parks and drains.
This latest round of funds for WA councils has been made available through the state government’s Recycled Construction Products Program, which has been designed to help reduce the amount of construction and demolition waste going into landfill.
It is a scheme designed to incentivise local governments to use existing materials rather than hauling them out to landfill sites that have been feeling the pressure to make more space for incoming waste from residential areas as well as construction and demolition sites, while running the risk of filling to capacity way before their use-by date.
Under this new handout through the program, the government has provided the first $8 million stream in a pre-allocated, non-competitive financial incentive payment for each metropolitan council which uses recycled construction and demolition products in its own operations.
The remaining $2 million is for open, competitive funding to purchase and use recycled construction and demolition products by the private sector, metropolitan local councils and state government entities.
Western Australian Minister for Environment Albert Jacob said achieving the target for diverting waste from landfill is a shared responsibility and requires action from state and local governments, industry and the wider community.
“Western Australia’s use of recycled construction and demolition materials is significantly lower than in other states and we need to change this,” Mr Jacob said.
He said WA generates three million tonnes of construction and demolition waste and sends two million tonnes to landfill – “this is a valuable resource that we could be using in everyday construction projects”.
And there are big savings in other areas that could be generated through such a scheme, should any other government across Australia wish to adopt its model.
According to Mr Jacob, “significant financial savings” and environmental benefits could be achieved by using recycled construction and demolition waste.
“This is an important initiative and I encourage the private and local government sectors to apply for this funding,” he said.
