Circular Economy Household Education Fund – Round 4

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This video shows one speaker presenting at the Circular Economy Household Education Fund Information Session on 5 September 2023.

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Laura Simic:

Okay. Welcome to the information session for round four of the Circular Economy Household Education Fund. I will kick off by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the lands upon which we're meeting or discussing this today. So for me, that's the Wurundjeri Woiwurrung lands and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

So my name is Laura Simic. I am the Program Lead for the Circular Economy Household Education Fund. Firstly, I will take you through some background on the Circular Economy Policy and the program that SV is delivering under the policy. And then I'll take you through all aspects of the fund, the guidelines and all the aspects of the application form and the assessment criteria. Then I'll briefly show you some of the campaign materials, because to be eligible for a grant, you have to use the SV campaign materials for your project.

And then lastly, I will close off with a quick summary of the key dates and links and contacts if you have any questions. Okay. So to start off with, a quick check-in about the policy, which I'm sure you’re all very familiar with now. The Victorian Government has invested just over half a billion dollars to transform our waste and recycling system in Victoria. The Government's Circular Economy Policy “Recycling Victoria: a new economy” established the move towards four-stream household recycling services.

Sustainability Victoria is delivering the education and behaviour change program to support the introduction of these new four-stream services under this policy. So we're all working together to achieve the policy targets which are there on the right side, which are to reduce per capita waste generation by 15%, increase rates of recovery to 80%, and then also halving organics to landfill and reducing problematic plastics.

So just a recap of what the four-stream services are under the policy. So the glass only recycling service, which could be a kerbside bin or a drop off. Food and garden organics service, which may be a kerbside bin or drop-off, or for some councils it might involve adding food organics to an existing garden organics, or expanding an opt-in garden, or food or garden organics service to the entire community, and also updating the bin lid colors to achieve consistency across the state.

So this slide shows a high-level design of the SV Circular Economy Program. So flowing from the Circular Economy Policy, the Education and Behavior Change program, or the CE program for short, has two key campaign focus areas. The first one in the blue there is about reforming the recycling services. So this one includes introducing those new services I just mentioned and also other household recycling.

So e-waste, household chemicals, soft plastics. And then the second focus there in the red is about avoiding and minimizing waste, which looks specifically at reducing food waste and single-use plastics and using reusables. So these campaigns will be delivered at both statewide and local level to create one consistent campaign. So Sustainability Victoria will deliver a statewide campaign which will focus on the big picture information that's relevant to all Victorians.

And then the local campaigns will be delivered by you, the councils and alpine resorts, which will focus on the local level information that's relevant to your community. And that's where the fund comes in, as this fund provides the financial support to deliver those local campaigns for the service change or to include services for future service change. So let's get now to the main topic, the Circular Economy Household Education Fund.

And this fund was previously known as the Recycling Victoria Household Education and Behavior Change Fund. So as I mentioned, I'll be taking you through the details of the fund. Apologies for some text heavy slides, it is hard to make funding details very creative. So the fund is just over $6 million to support the delivery of local campaigns by you, the Victorian councils and alpine resorts.

To do this, Sustainability Victoria has developed campaign materials to educate and help Victorians to use the new household recycling services correctly, to ultimately achieve low levels of contamination. We've had three successful rounds of the fund already, and round four will now be the final round of the fund. So for Round Four, applicants of the fund must use the Sustainability Victoria campaign materials to introduce the new household recycling services, if you're introducing a service before 31st December 2024.

Or if you’re not introducing a new service before 31st December 2024, or you already have four-stream services, you can still get the grant out of the fund and use it to improve your existing household recycling streams and to promote the recycling system, to build community trust and pave the way for successful implementation of new services in the future.

So this eligibility is different to Round One to Two, which means now that regardless of where you are at with your new service journey, you are eligible for this fourth and final round of the fund. So a few things to know about the fund. You can only apply and receive one grant under this fund. So if you have already received a grant in Round One, Two or Three, then you can't apply again.

So feel free to stop listening to this because you don't need to. But if you haven't received a grant, it's very important you apply in this round. As I've said, it will be the very last round of the fund and we've expanded eligibility so that everyone is able to and eligible to apply. These grants are not competitive. Funds have already been set aside for each council and alpine resort, so basically if you do apply and complete an application and agree to the requirements, you will receive a grant under the fund.

Again, you must use the SV campaign materials and this grant isn't intended to support 100% of your campaign activity. There is not a mandatory contribution to this grant, but it is reasonable to expect that your campaign might have additional costs beyond the funding that we will provide. And lastly, you’ll have about a year and a half to complete your project and submit your monitoring evaluation report under this round.

So all projects must be completed by 30 June 2025. So how much money can you expect? So for the alpine resorts, it's pretty straightforward. Alpine Resorts Victoria has a $100,000 set aside, and that's split equally among the resorts. For councils, you'll receive a set amount of $30,000 plus a variable component to a maximum of $106,000. So we have determined the variable component of funding for councils based on data, which includes data points like the number of residents, number of residential properties and their density.

And then there's also a small portion of the variable component that is determined by the evidence you provide in the application form on behavior change challenges in your area. So for example, it could be the complexity of service changes or challenges with seasonal population increases. Okay, so let's look at what will be funded. So again, only activities using the campaign materials developed by Sustainability Victoria and also these activities must take place in Victoria and be completed by 30th June 2025, a minimum of 40% must be used to advertise locally.

However, we do recommend closer to 60% of the grant be used on advertising. And then there's a maximum of 60% of the grant can be used for other activities. These percentages did change about a month ago, as we did previously require a 60% spend on advertising. So we hope that this change does allow greater flexibility for councils and alpine resorts to deliver activities that will best reach their communities.

So to explain what we mean by advertising, this covers things like newspapers, radio, social media and direct mail to households, whereas other activities covers things like printing costs, undertaking, monitoring and evaluation, such as bin audits or engagement activities such as a stall at the local market. Again, all the details of these can be found in the guidelines. So now what won't be funded?

So again, you can't use the funding for activities that don't use the campaign materials that we have developed. The funding cannot be used on activities already funded by other government grants such as the Sustainability Councils Fund or the Kerbside Support Fund from the Department. It can't be used for other project related costs like capital purchases, maintenance or repairs, and it can't be used for any retrospective project activities. So any activities prior to the establishment of the funding agreement.

And all the details of what will and won't be funded can be found in the guidelines. And if you're unsure whether something can be covered, you can email through to our Grant Inquiries team for clarification. Okay. So the next section of the guidelines outlines the assessment criteria, which is in a what, how, why and who format, but I'll come back to discuss this shortly.

When we look in detail at the application form. And then the next section of the guidelines is due diligence. So Sustainability Victoria will take a risk based approach to assess each applicant. Due diligence covers things like environment, safety, workplace breaches, fair work breaches, insurance, funding history and conflict of interest. There are questions which cover this in the application form and we'll also be completing some checks.

So again, all of this is fully detailed in the guidelines. Please do review the section before completing your application. And similar to due diligence, the funding conditions are also outlined in the guidelines. I clearly will not be reading out this slide, but as an attempt to summarise the funding conditions, you must agree to participate in a collaborative process to develop the funding agreement and agree to milestones under the funding agreement. The first milestone will involve submitting a detailed communication and engagement plan and a monitoring and evaluation plan. And then the subsequent milestones, you will need to provide evidence of your activities as per these plans and then also complete project update reports. And then for the last milestone, you'll need to submit a final report and you need to keep SV informed of any project changes.

But again, please do review the full details before completing an application in the guidelines. Okay, so a quick run through of the application steps. As I've mentioned a few too many times, please review the guidelines, read through the terms and conditions of the funding agreements. There are links to these in the guidelines. And read and understand the terms of participating in grant programs.

Then create an account for SmartyGrants or log in if you've already used the system before to start your application. You'll find a hyperlink for this in the “How to apply” section of the guidelines and attend the information session, which is this recording, and then also complete and submit the application before midnight on Friday, the 29th of September.

Okay. So the application form has seven sections. Section 1 has the instructions and a few questions to check you’re eligible before progressing. Section 2 asks for your council details and contact details for the project. Section 3 asks for a project name and a timeline of the project, the type of project to be undertaking. Section 4 asks for a profile of your council. So this is where we ask you about your population, your density, your properties, details of your current waste and recycling services along with any current contamination, participation and engagement rates, if you know them. If you don't, that's okay. Those answers aren’t mandatory. And then the details of your new household recycling services, the date you're looking to introduce them and what the approach will be for those new services.

So kerbside or drop-off service. Section 5 is the assessment criteria, the what, how, why and who, which we’ll delve into in a second. And then Section 6 is the due diligence again, covering things like insurance compliance and conflict of interest, and then there’s a checklist to ensure that you've covered off all the requirements. And a signature as a declaration regarding the funding agreements, and then submit.

So that seems pretty simple, right? Okay, so let's go through the assessment criteria in more detail on each of the sections and then some tips based on the first few rounds of applications. So the first criteria is what is the project you are delivering? So here we want to know about the type of project. Are you introducing a service? Are you improving or promoting your existing services? If you have four streams already, all of the projects, you know, to pave the way for future, easier introduction of a new service and importantly, all the associated details and the dates and the configuration of what that looks like. We want to understand what the focus and goals will be for your project.

We want to understand the campaign audiences. So who's the primary audience for your campaign and who's also the secondary audience for your campaign. Under secondary audiences we really want you to be thinking about not just your entire community, but also any segments of your community that you think might need some extra guidance and attention. These would be your secondary audiences. And we ask you to explain any behavior change challenges. So when it comes to your community and recycling correctly, the answer to this question does contribute to that valuable component that I mentioned earlier. So it's important to provide, you know, some examples of some evidence that you might have to substantiate any claims in relation to challenges with recycling in your community.

So the “How” criteria. So that's about how will the project be delivered. So here we're asking you to outline the communication and engagement activities that you plan to use to deliver the project. So this includes listing the activities that you plan to undertake, the Sustainability Victoria campaign materials that you plan to use, and also the communication channels. As part of the funding agreement, you'll have to submit a communication engagement plan, which means the effort you've put into this section isn't wasted.

It will help you complete those plans that are required. Also under the “How”, we'll be asking you about how you monitor and evaluate your project. So this is quite important as the campaign isn't just about information dissemination or education, we're really looking to create a behavior change. So you need to consider how you measure behavior change and develop a baseline metric, which you can then use to monitor and assess how the activities you're performing are going, and then report on that at the end of your campaign to show if your campaign was successful.

And then some guidance in the application form and in the monitoring and evaluation plan on measuring behavior change. The next criteria is “Why”. So why have you chosen this approach to deliver your project? So you've told us about what you're doing and how you're planning to do it, but here we’re really looking for clear rationale on why you've chosen this approach, and to really draw the link between the type of project and the audiences, channels and activities you've outlined. And explain why your approach will deliver successful behavior change. If you're introducing a new service, this response should focus on how your approach will successfully introduce the new service to your community.

Perhaps you've completed similar communication activities before that have been successful. Or you've completed a survey that asked your community how they want to be engaged. And if you're not introducing a new service, you need to outline how your project approach will pave the way for a future service introduction in the future.

So, for example, this may be due to known challenges you are experiencing currently and how they are impacting your service. Or again, perhaps you've completed a survey in your community and you’re trying to overcome all community sentiment in relation to recycling. And lastly, who will deliver the project? So here we want to understand who in your team is responsible for delivering the project and do they have the capabilities, capacity and experience to do so?

And that's the assessment criteria. It's the most important part of the application form. And I'd like to reiterate that the effort you put into this section will be useful when you complete your plans under the funding agreement, and it's been designed that way to be transferred and flow into the plans and reports. Okay. One last thing I'll mention in this section is the campaign guide.

So we have developed a how to guide to help you plan your project and campaign. It also aligns to the application form. So it'll be an important resource for you as you complete the application and also as you start planning your campaign. It covers everything from the background and development of the SV campaign, includes key details and extensive audience research that's been completed by SV and will be helpful for when you consider your audiences for your campaign.

And then there's also information about the campaign materials and resources which will be available to you and guidance on how to use them. And then also support on developing the communication and engagement plan, the monitoring and evaluation plan, which will be helpful for you to keep in mind while you complete the application form so you can leverage the information from the form into these plans.

And in the campaign guide, there is a section on developing the plans which I mentioned, and it focuses on these campaign phases. Sorry, I skipped this slide, this one. So the phases, so I just wanted to explain what we mean by these phases. And this infographic outlines the phases with the related timeframes and focus areas. So these phases link together with the funding agreement and the planning templates. I will note, however, that this will be an ideal campaign scenario and we understand this would not be applicable to everyone. So in that first row there, if you are introducing a service, ideally you'd start the preparation phase at least six months prior to the introduction of your new service.

Then in phase one, this would be the pre transition phase. So about three months maybe before you start your new service and you'd be engaging your community and providing them some upcoming education about the change that is coming. And then as you transition and introduce your new service in Phase 2, you'll be implementing and informing, implementing the change, informing your community on the specifics of what they need to do differently.

This would be a big bulk of the campaign work. Then in Phase 3, the following 3 to 6 months after the service would be considered like a post-transition phase. In this phase, you would then be reviewing your service introduction, identifying any opportunities for improvement and optimizing your campaign. And then in the ongoing phase, Phase 4, you'd be continuing the successful activities and targeting any areas of your community that still might need some support.

And you'd probably be doing some auditing in this one too, just to try and capture that behavior change for reporting. Okay. And then if you're looking to improve on your existing services in the preparation phase, you'd be confirming your focus areas, planning on how you’ll be delivering your activities. Then in the first phase, you'd begin some campaign activities and start with your first focus area potentially, if you had several focus areas. In Phase 2, you would have a mid-campaign check in. See how the first phase of activity went, adjusting any activities if required, and then commence the focus on a second area if applicable. Then in the third phase you'll do another check-in, reviewing how the second phase went, adjusting if required, and perhaps if you have a third focus area of activity, you would begin that.

And then in the last phase, Phase 4, you’ll complete your monitoring and evaluation report, evaluate your behavior change, and then this will help you consider the overall success and continue any activity into the future. So hopefully, you know, when you when we discuss the phases down the track and the funding agreement, this provides some context for understanding excuse me.

So importantly, the key dates of the fund. So applications open Monday 4th of September 2023. They close on Friday 29th of September 2023. We're really hoping to notify successful applicants in December. The funding agreement said to be established about 30 days after the notification of outcome. So ideally some time in December or early January. The projects have to be commenced after the funding agreement's been established, but definitely before 31st December 2024 to allow at least six months for the project as a minimum. And then all projects have to be completed by 30th June 2025. So yes, these dates are indicative and they may change depending on approvals, but that wraps up all of the details of the fund guidelines. I know that's a lot of information. Hopefully if you reviewed the guidelines, it is mostly familiar.

Okay. So now I'll just quickly run through the Small Acts Big Impact campaign materials. So as I've mentioned, you have to use these campaign materials under the fund and our incredible campaign asset library houses all the assets. It contains well over 3000 individual campaign materials now. So you can see a bit of a list here for the introduction of services. There's all different campaign materials as well as materials on reiterating correct recycling behaviors and reducing contaminations.

So these focus on some mini campaigns in specific topics as well as batteries, FOGO contamination and reducing soft plastics too. We have engaged with councils via our monthly forums last year and quarterly forums this year, and we also meet monthly with councils introducing new services. And we have recorded and captioned each of our capability building campaign labs series from 2022 on the asset library. So there’s plenty of support on there that I would encourage you to jump on and have a look at. The asset library also has the campaign guide, the visual style guide, the templates that are needed for the funding for the requirements under the funding agreement, and also FAQ's and key messages as well.

So here are just some examples. We have over 200 individual illustrations that are available to use, so you could use these individual items to develop your own campaign materials. If there's something that we don't provide on the asset library that you need. And we also have the illustrations of various hands holding different items. And here's an example of a DL flyer for a four-bin system.

And here's what the inside of that DL flyer would look like. And a condensed version of a fridge magnet, which is a three stream plus a “not in any bin” option. Here are some bin stickers for on the bin or on the caddy, for food and garden organic service. Here's some examples. If you're introducing a new glass bin and also a glass drop-off. And food and garden organics service. So it's like some social media assets, bin tags, different types of caddies with liners and without liners, a press ad, some print ads or posters, social tiles for the food and garden organics service, bin audit postcards and tags.

And I'll just mention here that each of the campaign materials comes with some creative guidelines. So when you download a campaign material, you'll get a zip file, which includes all these additional files, like a visual style guide for the graphic designers, which has details on the colors and the fonts, and that's to ensure consistency if you do edit the materials or if you create a new material from the ones that we have provided. So yes, you are able to adapt the campaign materials within reason. Yet using the templates or the individual illustrations that are on the asset library.

So just a quick summary, please apply. This is the last round of the fund and it is not competitive. So we really encourage all councils and alpine resorts to apply. You can apply if you are introducing a new service before 31st of December. Or if you’re not introducing a new service, you can still apply and use the grant to improve upon your existing services. And lastly, again, you must use the campaign materials developed by SV. And just the key dates once again. So yes, applications open on Monday 4th and close on Friday 29th of September. Hoping to notify applicants in December and finalize the funding agreements by the end of the year ideally, and that will allow you to have a year and a half to complete your projects. And here’s some links and some contact details.

So any questions about the fund or the application form can go through to grants.inquiries@sustainability.vic.gov.au. Any questions about the campaign or campaign materials or joining a mailing list, please email to campaigns@sustainability.vic.gov.au. There's also other key links there to the application form, the guidelines page on the asset library.

Also, I'm not sure if they’ll work, but please reach out to any of the emails so we can provide these to you. Also, the Sustainability Victoria Regional Engagement Leads. If you haven't already heard from them, they'll be reaching out to you to provide support. So please feel free to get in touch with them if you have any further questions.

Their emails are their first name full stop their last name at sustainability dot Vic dot gov dot au. Wonderful. Thank you for watching today and hope you have a great day and look forward to reviewing your applications later in the year. Thanks.