$2.8m to help manufacturers go green

A brickworks, a dairy and a polyethylene plant are among 13 manufacturers Australia wide to benefit from the Rudd government’s Re-tooling for Climate Change program, to reduce water use or greenhouse gas emissions in their production processes.

Innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr said that the successful applicants announced last week will receive grant offers totalling $2.8 million under the program’s fourth round.

“This program is all about working in partnership with industry to support a sustainable manufacturing sector, now and into the future,” Senator Carr said.

“The projects funded cover a range of strategies, including water treatment and recycling, converting production waste into energy, re-using waste heat from the production process, technology investment and process re-engineering to cut energy or water consumption.

“It’s great to see that regional Australia is once again well represented amongst the grant recipients.”

Senator Carr said changes to the administration of the program would improve access and the quality of service available to manufacturers.

“Previously, applications have been assessed in rounds closing every few months. In future, decision-making committees will meet more frequently to move towards continuous assessment of applications,“ Senator Carr said.

“This will provide increased confidence for businesses to commit to projects and bring forward their applications.”

Re-tooling for Climate Change offers dollar for dollar grants from $10,000 to $500,000 to help small and medium Australian manufacturers to improve the energy and/or water efficiency of their production processes.

Go to www.ausindustry.gov.au for further information.