Recycled First Policy: how the plan and reporting work
Recycled First sets no fixed percentage. Instead, each tenderer states which recycled and reused products it will use and in what volumes, and those figures become the commitments it has to report against.
What is the Recycled First Policy?
The Recycled First Policy is a Victorian Government rule that asks contractors to optimise recycled and reused materials on government infrastructure. It sets no mandatory minimum. Each tender includes a Recycled First Plan with material commitments, which become contractual requirements, and the successful contractor reports against them during delivery.
Major Transport Projects
Victorian major transport projects have been covered since March 2020, delivered through the Big Build with support from ecologiQ. Model clauses for these contracts were developed by ecologiQ.
Department Of Transport And Planning Work
The department applies it to transport infrastructure, operational and maintenance work of $1 million or more in regional contracts and $3 million or more for metropolitan and statewide contracts, excluding GST. These contracts use simpler planning and reporting templates than the Big Build.
Other Government Infrastructure Of $20m Or More
The Victorian Health Building Authority says all government-funded infrastructure of $20 million or more, including health capital works, must optimise and report from 1 July 2025. Big Build names health and community safety projects above $20 million, so check your own tender documents.
What Sits Outside It
At the department, it does not cover corporate overheads such as office paper, waste outputs from a project, or goods and services contracts. Those exclusions are stated for the department's work and may differ elsewhere.
What the Recycled First Policy asks for.
What you report, and when.
Recycled First Plan
To the agency running the tender
Recycled First Report
To the Project Office and ecologiQ on Big Build work, or the contracting agency
Close-Out Report
To the contracting agency
- Recycled First Plan
- Recycled First Commitments By Type And Volume
- Recycled First Report
- Records Showing Compliance With The Plan
- Lessons Learned From Applying The Policy
- Trial Approvals For New Products
Assuming No Target Means No Obligation
The policy sets no percentage, but the volumes you propose in the plan become contractual requirements. An optimistic number at tender is the number you are then held to.
Proposing Products That Are Not Approved
On department contracts, commitments must use approved products unless a trial was formally approved by tender time. A plan built around an unapproved product leaves a gap to explain later.
Keeping The Evidence Until Later
Contractors must prepare and maintain records that show they complied with the plan, and the report needs types and quantities. Rebuilding that from dockets at close-out is far harder than recording material as it arrives on site.
How Catchment manages the Recycled First Policy.
Commitments As Environmental Targets
EnviroTrackThe framework creates Recycled First - Site-won material reused as a report-only target and names Recycled First - Recycled & reused materials for you to set up over the materials you report. You add values from your own plan, because the policy has no default to apply.
Monthly Quantities From Each Package
EnviroTrackWork packages report material entries each month against those commitments, and a reviewer accepts or sends back each section. Once you set your tendered volumes as targets, progress against them stays visible through delivery, and the record supports the Recycled First Report you lodge.
The Plan And Reporting Table
GovAssureRecycled First Plan and Recycled First Reporting Table are set up as document requirements. Keep each revision of your own copy in the Document Register and select the current one when you file it. The plan you tendered stays easy to find when someone asks what was committed.
A Docket Register And Method Statements
GovAssureThe Materials Docket Register is a ready requirement for filing delivery records, and method statements such as Aggregates, Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) and Recycled Glass are ready to switch on. Package-level requirements reach each new work package, and you switch them on for packages that already exist, so they reach the trade partners handling those materials.
Adopting this framework on a project generates these targets and documents. You can edit them to match your contract.
Recycled First Policy questions.
What is the Recycled First Policy?
It is a Victorian Government policy that asks contractors on government infrastructure projects to optimise their use of recycled and reused products. It also aims to build a better picture of product types, quantities and locations. It supports Victoria's circular economy plan and the Social Procurement Framework.
Does Recycled First set a minimum recycled content percentage?
Not as a fixed figure. The policy gives no set percentage, though it allows tender weightings and targets project by project. Each tenderer proposes its own products and volumes in a Recycled First Plan, and the successful tenderer's volumes become contractual requirements, so your obligation is the number you tendered.
What is a Recycled First Plan?
It is a document submitted with every tender for a covered project. It shows how the tenderer will optimise recycled and reused materials within current standards and specifications and sets out its commitments. Templates differ between Big Build and Department of Transport and Planning contracts.
Who does the Recycled First Policy apply to?
Major transport projects have been covered since March 2020. Department of Transport and Planning work is covered from $1 million in regional contracts and $3 million for metropolitan and statewide contracts. The Victorian Health Building Authority says all government-funded infrastructure of $20 million or more has been covered from 1 July 2025.
What does reasonably practicable mean under Recycled First?
For the Department of Transport and Planning, it means weighing financial and non-financial factors for the project. Examples include availability, safety, performance, embodied carbon, haulage distance and cost compared with virgin product. Relevance depends on the project's type, scope, location and scale.
How often do you report under Recycled First?
There is no single frequency. On Big Build work the commitments and reporting table goes to the Project Office and ecologiQ at agreed intervals, then a close-out report at practical completion. At the department, contractors complete a Recycled First Report and a close-out report using a simpler template. Read your contract for the dates.
- Recycled First Policy: Frequently Asked Questions (Department of Transport and Planning) (Department of Transport and Planning, Victoria)
- ecologiQ Suppliers Guide to Recycled First Transport Infrastructure Projects 2026 (ecologiQ, Victoria's Big Build)
- Purposely Greener Infrastructure: Recycled First Policy, March 2020 (ecologiQ, Victoria's Big Build)
- Environmental sustainability (Victorian Health Building Authority)
- Department of Transport and Planning - Procurement (Victorian Government)
- Recycled First Policy (Victoria's Big Build)
Reviewed 4 November 2026. General information to help you plan reporting, not legal advice. Policies change, so check the current version with the policy owner before you rely on it.
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