Grants for seafood waste, pallet projects and other circular efforts expected to create 72 Queensland jobs

Five million dollars in grants has been awarded to eight projects under Queensland’s Circular Economy Investment Program, including a robotic pallet dismantler, oyster shell waste in render and plaster products, and newly-developed materials from rigid plastic waste.

According to a statement from the state environment department on Monday, the grants awarded were worth between $250,000 and $750,000 each, and will help reduce both material going into landfill and newly-created material entering circulation.

Kahil Lloyd, the acting Deputy Director-General at the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation, said that for every three jobs in landfill, there are nine jobs in recycling.

“These projects will not only help to reduce the roughly 10 million tonnes of waste produced in Queensland each year but also innovate a range of industries and support up to 72 local jobs,” said Lloyd.

“From a robotic pallet dismantler to innovative recycling approaches for mattresses, medical plastics and truck tarpaulins; these projects go beyond a one-size fits all approach to tackling waste.

A list of supported projects is reproduced below.

Organisation	Project description
Tom’s Pallets Pty Ltd	Install robotic pallet dismantler and urban sawmill to be the first in Queensland to dismantle and resize timber pallets for repair, refurbishment and remanufacture under Australian standards for timber pallets.
RGM Commerce Pty Ltd	Recycling and reprocessing medical soft plastics into new packaging products such as garbage bags and soft plastic liner products, completing the loop between the recycled materials collected and the products RGM sell.‍
B&C Plastics Pty Ltd	Recover rigid plastic waste and develop innovative, new-to-world materials that serve as excellent replacements for products using virgin materials found in the medical industry.
Mineral Fox Pty Ltd	Replace virgin sands and aggregate ingredients with milled oyster shell waste sourced from hospitality establishments to offer a Queensland-based alternative to conventional render and plaster products.
Gateway Care Ltd	Streamline food recovery operations and improve data management to offer a “circular food rescue operation in a box” initiative, and provide other organisations with the tools, knowledge, and initial funding to establish similar operations across Queensland.
Repurpose Recycling Pty Ltd	Recover soft PVC textiles, including discarded billboard signage, grain tarpaulins, truck tarpaulins and upholstery, and convert this waste material into new banner media used in the signwriting industry.
Community Resources Limited	Establish the state’s first dedicated mattress recycling site in collaboration with a South East Queensland council to offer non-virgin material streams including steel, timber and textiles.
Golden Cockerel Pty Ltd	Install food processing machinery that improves recovery rates during poultry processing operations, to generate high value protein ingredients and reduce unnecessary waste products.