Organics Collections

The Organics Collections grant program supports the collection of food and garden organic waste from households.

This program is now closed.

Purpose

This 8-year $27 million program is aimed at diverting food and garden waste from landfill and redirecting it to organics processing facilities. It complements the Organics Infrastructure – Organics Processing grant program, which funds the establishment of processing facilities.

In March 2020, an additional $12.5 million was announced for the Household Stream to support councils impacted by the Environment Protection Authority's (EPA) decision to no longer allow land application of Mixed Waste Organics Outputs. A total of $16 million was available in this round, $3.5 million of which was available to councils that were not affected by the EPA's Mixed Waste Organics Outputs decision.

The Organics Collections program funds

  • the introduction or expansion of green-lid bin services
  • kitchen caddies
  • education programs to support and encourage behaviour change
  • trials of organics collection services in multi-unit dwellings (MUDS).

Collection services funded under this program must:

  • collect waste that is currently going to landfill
  • transport the waste to a licensed treatment facility (e.g. for conversion to compost or conversion to energy).

This program is being delivered by the NSW Environmental Trust in partnership with the NSW Environment Protection Authority. Additional information can be found on the EPA website.

Before 2017, this program was called the Local Government Organics Collection Systems (LGOCS) grants program.

Funding available

Business stream

Grants of between $10,000 and $500,000 were available to cover up to 50% of costs relating to organics collection services to businesses.

Household stream

Grants up to $1.3 million were available for the introduction of new or expanded kerbside organics collection services to households (including multi-unit dwellings). Trial collection services in multi-unit dwellings were eligible provided the trial ran for a minimum of 8 months.

Who can apply?

The following organisations were eligible to apply to both streams:

  • individual NSW councils (as defined in the Local Government Act 1993)
  • regional waste groups, regional organisations of councils and joint organisations of councils (these groups can apply for grants or coordinate projects on behalf of one or more of their member councils).

2020 Household stream only

  • councils impacted by the Mixed Waste Organics Outputs (MWOO) decision were eligible to apply for the $12.5 million available through the Alternative Waste Treatment (AWT) Transition Package.
  • non-affected councils were eligible to apply for the remaining $3.5 million.

Business stream only

The following organisations were also eligible to apply to the Business stream:

  • waste and recycling collection providers
  • large businesses with multiple sites in a small geographic area, where each site generates large quantities of food waste
  • property owners and managers who control the waste and resource recovery services to commercial or mixed residential and commercial premises.

Joint applications

Joint applications were welcomed. Some examples include:

  • councils working with their waste-service provider to promote and coordinate commercial waste collections as part of existing household collections
  • councils working together on regional solutions
  • large waste generators and commercial property owners working with waste-service providers to establish new long-term organics separation and collection systems
  • waste-service providers working with Bin Trim assessors or businesses to implement suggested actions as per their Bin Trim action plan.

When can applications be made?

This program is now closed.

This program is closed to applications. The forms and guidelines below are for information only.

The application form is not available as applications were made via the Trust’s new online Grants Management System.

Download the Grants Management System Online Portal User Manual.

Project measures table

Grantees are sent their project measures table with their executed funding agreement. The project measures table helps you set the baseline for your project (its starting point), create targets and record progress. In this way you can quickly check how you're tracking and record your achievements.

You’ll need to update and submit the project measures table every time you report on your project’s progress.

Progress reports and final report

As you move through your project, you'll have to submit milestone (progress) reports. These will outline what you've achieved and what you'll do next.

Milestone reports are reviewed by technical experts who ensure you're on the right track and give you feedback or advice. After your report is reviewed and accepted, we'll pay your next grant instalment.

When your project finishes, you'll have to submit a final report that says what it has achieved.

Use the milestone report form (DOCX 75KB) and final reporting form (DOCX 75KB) for these reports.

Financial reports

You must submit a statement of expenditure with all your milestone reports. You also need to submit a certified financial report as part of your final report.

Other documents

You may also have to submit some other documents or evidence. They’ll be listed in the grant agreement we send you.

Where to send reports

Email reports and other documents to waste.recycling@environmentaltrust.nsw.gov.au (50MB limit).

Acknowledgement requirement

Please acknowledge the funding you’ve received from the Trust in all publications and materials related to your project. We ask that you say:

This project was supported by the Environmental Trust as part of the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment Waste Less, Recycle More initiative funded from the waste levy.

You also need to use the NSW Government logo. See Funding acknowledgement and logos for details.

  • In 2020 a total of $2,669,314 was awarded to 8 projects under the Household Stream.
  • In 2019 a total of $780,043 was awarded to 3 projects under the Business Stream.
  • In 2019 a total of $1,219,882 was awarded to 2 councils under the Household Stream.
  • In 2018 a total of $369,420 was awarded to 3 projects under the Business Stream.
  • In 2018 a total of $4,562,966 was awarded to 7 councils under the Household Stream.
  • In 2017 a total of $2,011,127 was awarded to 7 councils.
  • In 2016 a total of $1,656,231 was awarded to 4 councils.
  • In 2015 a total of $3,514,306 was awarded to 7 councils.
  • In 2014 a total of $5,805,566 was awarded to 10 councils.
  • In 2013 a total of $6,519,811 was awarded to 21 councils.

Project summaries