ACT recycling facility construction begins after four-year wait
The new Materials Recovery Facility will process 115,000 tonnes locally and save $10 million yearly.
Construction has officially started on Canberra's new Materials Recovery Facility at Hume after a four-year gap since a fire destroyed the old plant on Boxing Day 2022. Batteries placed in a red recycling bin sparked the fire.
The ACT had to truck around 50,000 tonnes of recyclables to other states each year. This cost about $10 million.
The new $26 million facility will process up to 115,000 tonnes locally. It should avoid around 26,000 tonnes of carbon emissions each year.
The facility will feature an advanced glass-washing system. Crushed glass will be sorted by colour for remaking.
The facility is expected to open in early 2028. The ACT gave $10.5 million and the Commonwealth gave $10.5 million.
Insurance added $5 million.
- $26 million
- Cost to build
- $10 million
- Annual savings
- 115,000 tonnes
- Processing capacity
- 26,000 tonnes
- Carbon avoided yearly
Why it mattersThe facility will cut transport costs. It keeps waste jobs and revenue in the territory. It shows recycling can be a real economic benefit when done locally.
AustraliaCanberrans will have local recycling infrastructure again and the ACT may eventually make money from high-quality recovered materials instead of paying to ship waste interstate.
✓ Claims checked against the source. checked 2 h ago
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