The Clean Energy Finance Corporation has committed $75 million in debt financing from its $100 million Australian Recycling Investment Fund to the upcoming demolition (C&D) recycling facility at Brisbane.

According to a statement on Monday, the Rino Recycling facility will have capacity to process more than one million tonnes of waste annually – including concrete, excavation material, vacuum waste and skip bin waste – with a recovery rate of better than 90 per cent.

Construction of the site – located between the city’s airport and CBD – was announced in August last year.

“It offers an opportunity to deliver important infrastructure to Queensland and comes at a critical time for Brisbane, with the city on the cusp of a construction boom in the count down to the 2032 Olympics,” said CEFC CEO Ian Learmonth of the funding.

The $90 million site was developed in partnership with technology providers Turmec from Ireland and CDE from Northern Ireland, and according to Rino Recycling will be the first of its type in the world.

There was a large potential for recycling construction material as Brisbane prepared for major developments, including expansion of its airport, development of the city region in the SEQ ‘City deal’, and the Olympics.

“The introduction of the landfill levy by the Queensland Government in 2019, and their commitment to almost double it by 2027, has enabled us to make this investment in this proven technology,” said Rino Director Todd Pepper.

“This facility will not only help SEQ achieve its Olympics commitments but preserve a number of its finite resources by recycling existing materials in the system first.”

According to the statement, “a significant proportion” of the 29 million tonnes of C&D waste created nationally is sent to landfill.

Picture: credit Rino Recycling