KERBSIDE recycling will continue in the Redlands, with council just negotiated a two-year extension with Visy.
It comes as Ipswich City Council says it will lose money on the service.
Redland mayor Karen Williams said council had just negotiated a two-year extension with Visy, the supplier that sorts, processes and recycles recyclable materials.
“It is important that residents continue their efforts to sort their household recyclables so their yellow-topped bin is as free from contaminants as possible,” she said.
“Recycling correctly ensures the city has a premium product that can be properly recycled into new products.”
Deputy Premier Jackie Trad said the unprecedented decision of Ipswich City Council – since overturned – to dump recyclable material had prompted the government to start talks with councils about the waste stream.
“We will be bringing forward the waste levy, incentivising the recycling industry to scale up and encouraging waste-to-energy enterprises to set up in Queensland.”
Ms Trad said the waste levy that was introduced in 2011 – had it not been repealed by the Newman government – would have stopped a number of problems, including the 900,000 tonnes of interstate rubbish being dumped in Queensland.
Oodgeroo MP Mark Robinson said he was concerned about the impact the government’s waste levy would have on businesses and residents.
“Labor’s waste levy – waste tax 2.0 – appears to be just another tax grab by another money-hungry Labor government,” he said.
“...The previous $300 million tax impost on Queensland businesses hurt Redland businesses then and the new tax will hurt them again.
“The added cost will mean local businesses will pay more to dispose of all kinds of waste and the costs will be passed on to consumers, even the cost of fish and chips will go up.”
Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch said changes to recycled product imports by China had impacted on councils and had prompted the government to explore more innovative ways of using waste.
She said improvements at a local level could help the federal government work towards a national solution.
Local Government Association of Queensland chief executive Greg Hallam said a waste to energy strategy – usually in which waste was burnt to produce electricity – was the way to go.
Boomerang Alliance director Jeff Angel said the rush to incinerate recyclable materials was the wrong way to go.
“It’s on the low rung, only second to landfill on the widely accepted waste treatment hierarchy for very good reasons,” he said.
Incineration was old style technology that created multiple problems for the environment, recycling and local communities, including air pollution.
Cr Williams said the average contamination rate for recycling bins was about 7 per cent, due in part to council’s education campaigns.
“Councils with unacceptably high recycling contamination levels are now facing prohibitive processing costs… Redlands is not in that position,” she said.
The only materials that should go into recycling bins were firm plastics, steel and aluminum cans, glass, paper and cardboard.
The most common contaminants were plastic bags, clothing, nappies, styrofoam, food and garden waste.
Information on waste services can be found at redland.qld.gov.au/info/20190/guidance_on_different_types_of_waste/327/a-z_of_waste_and_recycling
