A national research hub aimed at turning some of Australia's toughest carbon wastes - from plastics and tyres to organic residues - into high-value products like clean hydrogen, sustainable chemicals, and advanced carbon materials has officially launched at Monash University's Clayton campus.
The ARC Research Hub for Value-Added Processing of Underutilised Carbon Waste (VAPUCW), was officially launched by Ms Bonnie Johnson, Acting Branch Manager of Executive and Communications, Australian Research Council (ARC), and Ms Helen Partridge, Director of the Monash Research Office.
Australia generates almost 76 million tonnes of waste each year, much of it carbon-based material such as plastics, food and organic residues, tyres, and industrial ash. Most of this still ends up in landfill, with only nine per cent of plastic waste currently recycled. To reverse this trajectory, the Australian Government has set ambitious targets: recovering 80 per cent of all resources by 2030, halving food waste to landfill, and phasing out harmful plastics.
The Hub is addressing this challenge by developing technologies that convert everyday carbon waste – such as plastics, tyres, organic residues, and industrial by-products – into valuable chemicals, clean-energy materials, catalysts, and advanced carbon products. It received $4.9 million in ARC funding and $4.8 million in cash contributions from 16 industry partners.
The Hub is a collaboration of five Australian Universities: Monash University, The University of Western Australia, Curtin University, The University of Queensland, and the Queensland University of Technology, and many industry partners. To date, seven projects have been executed, four to be signed, and two more are under development.
Hub Director Professor Lian Zhang, from Monash's Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, said Australia is facing an urgent need to better manage organic and carbon-based wastes that are currently landfilled, stockpiled or exported overseas.
"Australia produces huge volumes of waste - scrap tyres, plastics, crop residues and food waste - that often end up in landfill or stockpiles, creating long-term environmental pressures," Professor Zhang said.
"This hub is developing technologies that can upcycle these materials into valuable products, helping the nation meet its 2030 recovery targets and shift decisively toward a circular economy."
Ms Bonnie Johnson, representing the ARC CEO, said the ARC was proud to support research that is bold in its ambition, rich in collaboration, and focused on solving complex challenges.
"This Hub exemplifies the power of university-industry partnerships to create impact far beyond the research setting," Ms Johnson said. "It will advance upcycling technologies and strengthen the regulatory and social frameworks needed to process these materials onshore."
The launch event featured a project showcase, which demonstrated the developed iron oxide catalysts from coal fly ash to improve bio-oil derived from organic waste, carbon-based catalysts from tyre waste to convert plastics into high-value aromatic chemicals, and 3D-printed reactors for hydrogen production from methane.
Ongoing projects were also showcased including Ru-Pt catalysts for liquid organic hydrogen carriers, advanced carbon materials for green hydrogen production from the electro-splitting of water, sewage-sludge valorisation, high-value extracts from seaweed biomass, biomass-derived additives for vanadium redox flow batteries, catalytic fast pyrolysis of plastics, bioplastics, and circular-economy ecosystem design for Australia.
Ms Helen Partridge, Director of the Monash Research Office, said the ARC Research Hub would address one of the pressing challenges of our time – the impact of waste on the environment, economy and community.
"Monash University is the perfect home for this Hub, driven by our deep commitment to sustainability, industry collaboration and real-world impact," Ms Partridge said.
The launch coincided with an international symposium on the sustainable processing of carbon waste, running 3-5 December. Around 100 researchers and professionals from Australia, the USA, the UK, Singapore, China, and Jordan attended.
The symposium featured plenary panels on circular economy standards and emerging carbon waste technologies, and sessions covering chemical recycling, catalysis, AI-driven innovations, high-value products, and environmental and economic impacts.
