City of Newcastle has lodged a development application to build a $54 million recycling centre at its Summerhill garbage tip.
The council received a $5 million state and federal government grant last year to help build the waste recovery centre, which will be one of the city administration's most expensive infrastructure projects.
The recycling centre will sort plastics, paper, cardboard, glass and metals from yellow kerbside bins.
Contractors have sent the city's yellow-bin waste to iQ Renew's Central Coast plant since the Hunter's only recycling centre closed in 2020 after China stopped accepting much of Australia's plastics, paper and cardboard.
City of Newcastle said in March that its "materials recovery facility" would be "scalable" and "designed in a manner which allows for flexibility to cater to changes in the way we recycle and the growth in recycling efforts".
The council is also poised to start building a $33 million organic waste processing facility at Summerhill.
It says the recycling centre and the organics facility will allow red, yellow and green bin domestic waste to be processed in one location.
The plant could also handle recyclable waste from other Hunter councils which are now transporting the material to Sydney.
Plans for the new centre go on public exhibition from Friday until February 9.
The project requires the council to prepare and exhibit an environmental impact statement and receive approval from the Environmental Protection Authority.
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