The NSW Environmental Trust provides funding to a range of community, government and industry stakeholders to deliver projects that conserve, protect and rehabilitate the NSW environment, or that promote environmental education and sustainability.
The Trust provides this funding through a range of contestable grant programs and strategic investments. We administer both long-standing annual programs and one-off, issue-specific programs.
Our programs support:
- action in conserving and restoring natural ecosystems
- protecting threatened species
- undertaking priority environmental research
- building community skills, knowledge and capacity through education
- healthy Country and recognition of the value of Aboriginal peoples, their traditional knowledge and practices.
We also deliver many grant programs concerned with managing waste. These programs are part of the NSW Government’s Waste Less, Recycle More initiative.
Waste Less, Recycle More programs support and complement each other, and together form a comprehensive approach to improving the management of waste materials in New South Wales. We deliver Waste Less, Recycle More in partnership with the NSW Environment Protection Authority.
Ongoing Environmental Trust programs
| Name | Description | Eligible groups | Funding available | Next round opening | Closing date | Expected project announce-ment dates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Community recycling centres | Aimed at establishing a network of community recycling centres for householders to recycle and remove problem wastes | State and local government Private industry Not-for-profit organisations | Up to $300,000 per project | TBA | – | – |
| Environmental education | Supports projects that develop knowledge, skills, and commitment to sustainable behaviour, and ongoing participation in protecting the environment | Community groups Not-for-profit organisations State and local government | Tier 1: up to $60,000 per project Tier 2: from $60,001 to $250,000 per project ($1 million total) | 22 Sep 2025 | 11 Nov 2025 | May/Jun 2026 |
| Environmental research | Supports applied research for local environmental problems | Research institutions Collaborations | Up to $200,000 per project ($1,000,000 in total) | EOIs open 17 Feb 2025 | 9 Apr 2025 | Apr/May 2026 |
| Landfill consolidation and environmental improvements | Provides funding for the consolidation, closure and the environmental improvement of landfills | Local government | Up to $200,000 per project | TBA | – | – |
| Major resource recovery infrastructure | Accelerates and stimulates investment in waste and recycling infrastructure and increases resource recovery | Local government Private industry Not-for-profit organisations | $1–5 million per project for industry and non-profits $1–10 million per project for local government | TBA | – | – |
| Organics collections (formerly 'Local government organics collection systems') | Supports councils and business to collect source separated food only, garden only, or food and garden waste and divert it from landfill | Local government | Up to $1.3 million per project for services to households | 15 Sep 2021 | 28 Oct 2021 | Jan/Feb 2022 |
| Organics infrastructure – processing infrastructure | Funds infrastructure and equipment to reduce food and garden organic waste going to landfill | Local government Waste-management or organics processing businesses | $25,000– $1 million per project | 10 Sep 2021 | 21 Oct 2021 | Mar/Apr 2022 |
| Organics infrastructure – business organics recycling | Supports on-site processing or pre-processing of organics | Local government Not-for-profit organisations Private industry Universities, prisons, TAFE colleges and other government institutions | $75,000–$500,000 per project for businesses and local councils $135,000–$500,000 per project for not-for-profit organisations and government agencies | TBA | – | – |
| Organics infrastructure – food donation | Funds infrastructure to facilitate the collection and redistribution of food waste from businesses to people in need | Food-relief agencies (not-for-profit) | $10,000–$500,000 per project | TBA | – | – |
| Organics infrastructure – product quality | Funds infrastructure to improve the quality of organics outputs above regulatory requirements | Private industry Local government | $10,000–$500,000 per project | TBA | – | – |
| Organics infrastructure – transfer stations | Supports the development of new, or upgraded, transfer stations in the metropolitan waste levy area to separate food or food and garden recovery | Private industry Local government | $10,000–$500,000 per project | TBA | – | – |
| Protecting our Places | Funds protection and rehabilitation for culturally important land and water | NSW Aboriginal community organisations or groups | Up to $80,000 per project (over 2 stages) ($500,000 in total) | 2025 | To be advised | To be advised |
| Remanufacture NSW | Funds opportunities to support the NSW resource recovery sector's response to the Council of Australian Governments' waste export bans. Program is co-funded by the Australian and NSW Governments | Local government Private industry Not-for-profit organisations Research institutions | $100,000 – $3 million for infrastructure $50,000 – $1 million for trials | 14 Dec 2021 | Extended to 1 Apr 2022 | May/Jun 2022 |
| Remanufacture NSW – Regional and Remote | Funds opportunities to support the NSW resource recovery sector’s response to the Council of Australian Governments' waste export bans, with a focus on Regional and Remote area. Program is co-funded by the Australian and NSW Governments | Local government Private industry Not-for-profit organisations Research institutions | $10,000 – $1 million | 8 Nov 2021 | 6 Dec 2021 | Apr/May 2022 |
| Restoration and Rehabilitation | Funds ecological restoration projects | State and local government Community groups | Up to $350,000 per project ($4 million in total) | 7 Apr 2025 | 19 May 2025 | Sep/Oct 2025 |