Environment Minister Reece Whitby and Innovation and ICT Minister Stephen Dawson have today held an industry presentation with three recipients of the WasteSorted E-Waste Grants to discuss findings from projects aimed at assisting in the development of long-term innovative ways to process e-waste.
At the presentation, Curtin University, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and Epichem shared findings from each of their funded projects.
Combined funding of $600,000 was allocated to the three organisations for research and development programs that will support new and innovative solutions to process collected e-waste and reduce the amount of e-waste ending up in landfill.
The projects included:
- Curtin University – A project to recover valuable metals and remove toxic metals from e-waste using a safe leaching system;
- CSIRO – A project to develop innovative bioprocesses to extract precious and base metals from e-waste through a laboratory scale prototype; and
- Epichem – A project to test the use of oxidative hydrothermal dissolution (OHD) to breakdown e-waste to produce a range of useful and high-value chemicals.
Through the WasteSorted E-Waste Grants, the Western Australia Government has invested an additional $400,000 in six projects led by Total Green Recycling, Marlpa Waste Logistics, Shire of East Pilbara, City of Rockingham, WA Local Government Association and the City of Bunbury to enable an increase in the volume and range of e-waste collected for recycling.
The WasteSorted E-Waste Grants were funded by the New Industries Fund and administered by the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation in partnership with the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation.
The grants complement national action and support the WA Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Strategy 2030 objectives to avoid waste, recover more value and resources from waste, and protect the environment from the impacts of waste.
For more information, visit https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-jobs-tourism-science-and-innovation/new-industries-fund-wastesorted-e-waste-grants
As stated by Environment Minister Reece Whitby:
“With e-waste becoming a growing concern, we are proud to see that Western Australian researchers are developing innovative ways to inform best practice when reducing e-waste ending up in landfill.
“Through funding such as the WasteSorted E-Waste Grants, we are making progress towards the commitment to ban e-waste from Western Australian landfill by 2024.”
As stated by Innovation and ICT Minister Stephen Dawson:
“In total, the WA Government has invested $1 million in nine initiatives which, when fully implemented, will divert approximately 1,000 tonnes of e-waste annually from landfill in Western Australia.
“The WasteSorted E-Waste Grants are a good example of how different organisations, from across government, academia and industry, can work together to help solve this growing problem.”
