Queensland to get rubbish rating on managing waste

Queensland is on track to fail seven of nine of its own rubbish management targets, despite a $1.1bn Recycling and Jobs Fund.

Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon announced a $1.1bn Recycling and Jobs Fund in December 2021, but only $22m has been spent. Picture: Liam Kidston

Queensland is on track to fail seven of nine of its rubbish management targets, despite a $1.1bn Recycling and Jobs Fund that was aimed at turning the state into a “zero-waste society”.

The Australian revealed on Monday that the state’s signature recycling scheme – Containers for Change – had paid Queenslanders $12.69m to return 126 million drink popper containers to recycling centres only to then ship the waste to India.

Queensland's Containers for Change recycling scheme has no capacity to recycle poppers – made from liquid paperboard – despite paying consumers nearly $13m to return 130 million of the containers since late 2018.

Up to 126 million poppers, collected by Queensland’s Containers for Change recycling program, have been shipped to India because they cannot be recycled in the state.

An internal report shows the state’s waste management woes are more widespread.

Queensland is on track to fail seven Waste Management and Resource Recovery Strategy targets by the first milestone date of 2025, despite introducing a waste levy in 2019.

Last year, only 27 per cent of household and council waste was diverted from landfill; the target for 2025 is for 55 per cent to not end up in dumps. The state is also failing in the areas of diverting commercial and industrial waste, and recycling household rubbish.

The latest national comparison shows Queensland is the worst-performing mainland state at recovering resources and diverting waste from landfill.

Queensland’s poor performance is despite a $1.1bn 10-year ­Recycling and Jobs Fund, announced by Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon in December 2021, which promised to “deliver a recycling revolution”, fast-track Queensland’s “transition to a zero-waste society” and be the “largest investment in waste management and recycling in Queensland’s history”.

In the 18 months since the announcement, the fund has spent just $22.3m of an allocated $48m.

Liberal National Party environment spokesman Sam O’Connor said in key areas, Queens­land’s recycling performance was going backwards on the Labor government’s watch.

“Queensland is falling far behind almost every other part of Australia on the road to a circular economy; without dramatic changes, it’s putting the environmental credentials of the Brisbane 2032 Olympics at risk,” Mr O’Connor said.

“Five years since the waste levy was announced and with it generating almost $1bn in revenue, the Palaszczuk Labor government has no one else to blame but themselves.”

Ms Scanlon said the LNP, under one-term premier Campbell Newman, scrapped the waste levy and turned the state “into Australia’s dumping ground”.

“Since we reintroduced the waste levy, interstate waste has dropped more than 610,000 tonnes, and construction and demolition waste has already exceeded the 2025 target,” Ms Scanlon said.

“The same waste levy is being used to invest more than ever before in recycling.”

The government says the increase in household waste in Queensland coincided with the pandemic and people spending more time at home, ordering more online and eating takeaway.