A new state-of-the-art recycling facility for Canberra is another step closer with demolition of the former damaged facility underway.
Knocking down the former facility – which shut down at the end of 2022 due to extensive fire damage – will allow the new recycling facility to be built on the same site at Hume.
Construction of the new recycling facility, jointly funded by the Australian and ACT governments through a $26 million grant, is due to start in 2026 and is expected to be operational by 2028.
The demolition of the former recycling facility will take several months. Safety precautions will be taken, and the public is advised to obey contractor exclusion zones and stay a safe distance away from the site while the demolition process is underway.
The new, larger facility will be capable of processing up to 115,000 tonnes of mixed recyclables per year – up to 50,000 tonnes more per year than the previous recycling facility.
As announced in January 2025, Veolia will design, build and operate the ACT's new recycling facility, following a competitive procurement process last year. Veolia will operate the facility under a long-term contract for 20 years once the new facility is up and running.
The facility's new advanced sorting technology, equipped with sophisticated automatic recognition, uses screens to separate paper, laser optical identification with air jets to separate plastics and powerful magnets to extract metals.
The new recycling facility will include a new education space providing an opportunity for the community and school groups to visit the facility to learn about how recyclable products are processed to be transformed into renewed items.
The new facility has been designed with state-of-the-art fire detection, mitigation and control systems to safeguard the site from fires, which can be caused by items such as lithium batteries or gas bottles finding their way into the recycling stream.
Non-recyclable or flammable items should not be disposed of in recycling bins, but it does happen from time to time, warranting the need for these additional safety measures.
More than 100 jobs will be created during construction of the new recycling facility, and there will be an estimated 24 permanent roles as part of the facility's operations once completed.
Until the new facility is built, there are no changes planned to current recycling management in the ACT. The current contractor, Re.Group, will continue to manage interim recycling services for the ACT until the new facility is complete.
The ACT continues to send approximately 46,000 tonnes of mixed-use recyclables interstate for processing each year, meaning these items can be transformed into new products rather than going into landfill.
The new recycling facility is jointly funded by the Australian Government through the Recycling Modernisation Fund.
Images of the start of demolition can be provided upon request.
