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Community groups in Upper Kedron and surrounding Brisbane north suburbs are being invited to apply for the 2026 Ellendale Community Grants, with $10,000 available for eligible schools, sporting clubs, not-for-profit groups and local organisations.

Ellendale Grants Open for Local Applications

Applications are now open for the latest round of the Ellendale Community Grants, a funding program linked to Cedar Woods Properties’ Ellendale masterplanned community in Upper Kedron.

The program has supported groups in surrounding suburbs since 2017, with funding used in previous rounds for equipment, facility improvements, school programs and support for residents. Eligible applicants include schools and not-for-profit groups, including sporting and community organisations, that have been operating for more than 12 months.

Applications close on 26 June 2026, with successful recipients expected to be announced in July.

Cedar Woods Ellendale Community Grant Winners. Phoenix Netball Club. Photo Credit: Sarah Keayes/The Photo Pitch/Supplied

Past Rounds Show Practical Community Use

The 2026 round follows earlier grants that have supported clubs, schools and community organisations across Brisbane’s north.

Cedar Woods has awarded $115,000 in grants to more than 60 community groups across the suburbs surrounding Ellendale and the Flourish masterplanned community in South Maclean.

In the 2025 Ellendale Community Grants round, six local groups shared $10,000. Phoenix Netball Club received $3,500 to help resurface three playing courts used by 285 players across 32 teams. More than half of the club’s members were from Ferny Grove and Upper Kedron, with some also living at Ellendale.

Other 2025 recipients included Everton Physical Culture Club, Mitchelton Youth Club, Samford Play Group, St Andrews P&C and St John’s Wood The Gap Conference. The grants supported needs including promotional material for a Physie program, seating for a renovated lobby area, play fort repairs, aluminium soccer goals and school-related support for families.

Cedar Woods delivers the Ellendale Community Grant to Ferny Grove State School P&C for their Robotics program. Photo Credit: Sarah Keayes/The Photo Pitch/Supplied

Upper Kedron Program Reaches Nearby Suburbs

The 2024 Ellendale Community Grants also provided $10,000 to local groups, including Ferny Grove State School P&C Association, Westside Grovely FC, Samford Netball Club and St John’s Wood / The Gap Parish of St Vincent De Paul Society.

Ferny Grove State School P&C received $5,000 in 2024 to buy robotics kits, expanding its Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics program to junior students. The grant was set to benefit 300 students.

The Ellendale grants page also lists previous recipient rounds from 2022 and 2019, reflecting several years of funding for groups linked to Upper Kedron and nearby communities.

Applications Close in June

Ellendale is a 227-hectare masterplanned community in Upper Kedron, bordering South D’Aguilar National Park. It is home to more than 590 families and includes nature corridors, recreation space and homesites.

The 2026 grants are open to eligible groups in Upper Kedron and surrounding communities. Applications close on 26 June 2026, with successful organisations to be notified in July.

Published 26-May-2026

South East Queensland’s first solar-powered Containers for Change Reverse Vending Machine has landed at the Great Western Super Centre in Keperra, and since launching in April it has already processed more than 88,000 containers, putting over $8,800 in 10-cent refunds directly back into the hands of locals.

The machine, built by Queensland green technology company Ecoboxtec and operated by Community Co Recycling, adds a genuinely new dimension to Keperra’s shopping precinct on Samford Road. Residents can now return their empty cans and bottles at the same time as their weekly grocery run, earning cash refunds or donating them directly to charity, all powered by Queensland sunshine rather than the grid.

For a suburb that sits within one of the city’s quieter northern corridors, the arrival of a machine that combines convenience with sustainability reflects a broader push to make recycling genuinely easy for communities that have historically had to go out of their way to participate.

A machine that pulls its weight from day one

The strong response in Keperra mirrors what has already happened elsewhere across South East Queensland. In Logan Central, a newly installed reverse vending machine matched eight months of bag drop collections in just nine days, highlighting how quickly people embrace recycling when it is easy and accessible.

Location is everything in this scheme, and the Great Western Super Centre placement works precisely because it integrates recycling into an errand people are already doing. Community Co Recycling Managing Director Doogan O’Hanlon said the convenient positioning had been central to the strong community response.

“The RVM is located close to the shopping centre, so claiming your 10-cent refund or donating it to charity is as easy as bringing your containers along with your weekly shop,” he said.

The machine itself is the CBOX 3 by Ecoboxtec, a large-format, three-chute asset that allows up to three customers to use it simultaneously, reducing wait times and making the experience fast enough to genuinely fit into a shopping trip rather than requiring a dedicated stop.

Eleven billion reasons Queensland gets it

The Keperra machine arrives at a moment when Queensland’s relationship with container recycling has reached genuine maturity. Queensland’s Containers for Change program surpassed the 11 billion return milestone late last year, marking $1.1 billion in 10-cent refunds returned to the community across the scheme’s seven-year history.

In FY25 alone, more than 4.8 million containers were collected by 681 Queensland schools, with $4.6 million donated to charities through the scheme.

Queensland introduced Containers for Change in November 2018 alongside a statewide plastic bag ban, and expanded the scheme in November 2023 to include wine and spirits bottles, broadening the range of containers eligible for the 10-cent refund and increasing participation accordingly.

COEX Executive General Manager Lauren Christian said the Keperra project showed how local innovation and sustainability could work in tandem. “By combining homegrown technology with on-the-ground expertise, we’re expanding the network in smarter, more sustainable ways and making recycling even more accessible for communities,” she said.

Turning bottles into something more

Beyond the cash refund, the machine gives locals the option to donate their 10-cent refunds directly to charities, turning a quick recycling stop into meaningful community support.

That dual function, personal financial return or charitable contribution, is one of the features that has consistently driven engagement across Containers for Change’s Queensland network.

The Keperra Reverse Vending Machine is open daily from 7am to 9pm at the Great Western Super Centre on Samford Road. To find other Containers for Change locations or to learn more, click here.

Published 18-May-2026

Tag: Brisbane north

Upper Kedron Groups Invited To Apply For Ellendale Grants