Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said the funding was open to 48 rural and regional councils, including Greater Shepparton, to support them as they worked towards a four-bin, or four-service, recycling system that separated household waste into rubbish, recycling, glass and green waste.
The money will be distributed subject to applications that meet the criteria over the next four years.
Greater Shepparton City Council will work with various agencies and departments to understand the criteria and identify options available for funding that will have maximum benefit for the community and waste and resource recovery centres.
The funding comes after the Victorian Government released the Recycling Victoria policy last year, which includes a 10-year action plan that, in part, aims to reduce waste going to landfill and improve and increase re-use and recycling.
The policy seeks to ensure that all councils separate waste into general waste, food and organic, recycling and glass to maximise the potential for sustainable re-use and recycling.
The policy calls for the introduction of a container deposit scheme in Victoria by 2022-23 and also a fourth kerbside — purple-lidded — bin for glass by 2027.
Greater Shepparton City Council has been a leader in food and organics recycling, and unlike many councils has already implemented a service that sees food waste put in the green bins.
In 2015 Greater Shepparton was one of the first councils to implement the food waste service, which has an average of 7500 tonnes of food and organic waste diverted from landfill each year.
