Metcash receives $500K grant from NSW Government for waste reduction and recycling initiative

Metcash is one of 14 companies selected this year for funding under Australia’s largest business waste reduction program. The NSW Bin Trim Network Program aims to divert 35,000 tonnes of waste from landfills each year by helping businesses reduce their waste and implement circular economy solutions. 

The $500,000 grant will assist Metcash with the rollout of its national waste avoidance and recycling initiative and will support Metcash’s goal of diverting 80% of waste from landfills by 2028.  

Senior Sustainability Manager at Metcash, Alex Arnaudon, said the company was proud to be selected for the program. 

“The grant will help us achieve our waste diversion targets. A key aim of the program is to minimise the generation of food and organic waste, along with reducing excessive packaging and non-recyclable materials in retail stores, distribution centres and the NSW supply chain,” Arnaudon said. 

Funding will focus on waste audits across 115 targeted grocery, retail and distribution centre sites in NSW to identify waste avoidance and recycling opportunities.  

On-site audits will be conducted using the Bin Trim assessment methodology, which includes a site walk-through, visual-based audits, interviews and data entry upload onto the Bin Trim tool. 

Insights from the audits will then be used to develop toolkits and learnings that will be rolled out to stores and distribution centres in the Metcash national network. The toolkits will be tailored to each business pillar and provide useful case studies on waste diversion initiatives. Following this, all NSW retailers will be eligible to apply for a 50 per cent rebate from the NSW Government for new recycling equipment. 

“We look forward to uncovering further waste avoidance opportunities and identifying best practice recycling initiatives across the network,” Arnaudon added.