Wingecarribee Shire Council has benefited from a $4.5 million Bushfire Recovery Green Waste Program grant from the NSW Government to assist the continued bushfire clean up.
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The NSW Government has committed more than $33 million to assist local councils with the continued clean up as communities rebuild following the devastating 2019-20 summer bushfires.
Deputy Premier Paul Toole said 15 councils would receive the grants, which would help them collect, manage, and recycle 165,000 tonnes of green waste and thousands of kilometres of burnt fencing waste as part of the NSW Government's bushfire recovery assistance.
"We know a huge amount of green waste was generated by the black summer bushfires in regional and rural communities," Mr Toole said.
"These much needed programs will provide local jobs and assist local sub-contractors and businesses to provide a much needed boost to our worst affected bushfire regions."
Fifteen councils from some of the worst bushfire-affected local government areas will receive grants under the Green Waste stream of funding, while six councils will receive funding as part of the FenceCycle Program.
Environment Minister Matt Kean said the FenceCycle Program helped the bushfire recovery process by removing burnt fencing waste from private land and enabling land to be returned to productive uses.
"FenceCycle takes an innovative approach to addressing the bushfire fence waste problem, by not only supporting the clean-up, but also incentivising the recycling and reuse of burnt fencing material," Mr Kean said.
"Over the past 18 months we've worked with our regional communities to make sure these programs address the real challenges they're facing on the ground."
The funding programs were designed to address ongoing waste and recycling challenges faced by fire-impacted councils and other public land managers, and extend support to account for major interuptions from subsequent flood impacts and COVID delays.
The two programs are part of a $4.5 billion NSW Government investment in bushfire recovery to support local communities with ongoing clean-up, temporary accommodation, and industry support.
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