Veolia has announced a contract exceeding $850m to construct, operate, and maintain a materials recycling facility (MRF) in Hume within the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).
This initiative is expected to process more than 2.3 million tonnes of mixed household recycling in its first two decades, significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
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The facility is a key component of Veolia’s global ‘GreenUp’ strategy, aimed at depolluting, decarbonising, and regenerating the environment.
The plant is also the first investment among others planned in 2025 in Australia, identified as a priority growth area for Veolia, which has been serving the Canberra community for more than 30 years.
The new MRF will sort a variety of materials, including paper, cardboard, glass, plastic, steel, and aluminium, utilising ‘advanced’ sorting technology.
This technology includes screens, laser optical identification, and ‘powerful’ magnets to separate materials.
Veolia claims its global operations have contributed to the advanced technologies employed at the facility, ensuring the removal of contaminants and nonrecyclables from the recycling stream.
This project, supported by the Australian and ACT governments through the Recycling Modernisation Fund, is stated to offer community benefits and a boost to the region’s circular economy.
It will also serve the resource recovery needs of neighbouring New South Wales councils in the Southern Tablelands and South Coast.
The Recycling Modernisation Fund, combined with co-investment, is set to provide a $1bn boost to Australian recycling infrastructure.
Veolia CEO Estelle Brachlianoff said: “As the global champion of ecological transformation, Veolia will bring world-leading technology to Canberra that will make this materials recovery facility one of the most advanced in Australia and produce the highest purity materials for recycling and resource recovery,”
“This project is part of our GreenUp strategy to invest more in Australia, a priority geographical area for Veolia. The momentum is already very strong: in the first year of GreenUp, Veolia Australia delivered a 7.7% growth in revenue. This new state-of-the-art materials recycling facility will increase local recycling capacity, reduce transport emissions by sorting recycled items locally in Canberra and provide more jobs for the Australian Capital Territory’s growing circular economy.”
In November 2024, a new lower carbon concrete solution was implemented at Veolia’s Ling Hall Incinerator Bottom Ash processing site in Warwickshire, marking a significant advancement for the UK construction industry.
