Gympie waste management strategy 2025-35 gives solutions to rubbish problem

The region’s biggest tip will “die” in three years and despite decades of talks and reports, the council has yet to decide what the future looks like post Bonnick Road.

A new report put to Gympie Regional Council has given the Bonnick Rd Landfill a three-year lifespan. Before then, big changes are in order.

A new report to Gympie council on how to fix the region’s looming waste problem includes solutions from thermotechnology to behavioural strategies — and the clock is ticking to shore up a solution.

There are 42,000 tonnes of rubbish being dumped into the Bonnick Rd landfill every year, and the Gympie Regional Council’s Waste Strategy 2025-35 report has set the dump’s expiry date at 2028.

Time is ticking.

Bonnick Rd is the region’s primary dump and is filling up fast.

The new strategy suggests a twofold fix: new storage solutions and community behavioural change.

Various storage options are suggested in the report, with the most pressing being to complete upgrades to the existing dump.

Building a new landfill in the Gympie region with at least 100 years disposal capacity was one solution, and outsourcing Gympie’s waste was another.

An energy-from-waste (EfW) facility was also proposed, which would convert non-recyclable, non-hazardous rubbish into usable energy such as heat, steam or electricity.

The report also suggested adopting a strategy similar to New South Wales’ Love Food Hate Waste program, which aims to reduce the strain placed on facilities by encouraging the community to put less waste into landfill.

Problems with Gympie’s waste management have plagued the town for years, with previous temporary fixes having prolonged Bonnick Rd’s approaching used-by date.

Despite Gympie dump’s recent $4 million eastern expansion, the state Environment Department slapped a breach order on the council several weeks for a number of environmental breaches at the site.

“Our vision is to build a waste infrastructure system that promotes circular services and practices to foster a resilient and resource-efficient community,” the report said.

“There is a need to develop and implement actions to reduce reliance on landfill and ensure landfill disposal security over the next 10 years.”

The waste strategy was workshopped with council early this year before public consultation was sought in developing the final blueprint.

The state government requires all councils to adopt a waste strategy.

“(The report) sets a good vision of where we want to go… we can do much better,” councillor Allona Lahn said in the meeting.

A new Gympie landfill has been on the table since 2022, with a more recent increase in residents complaining about smells coming from the dump.