Ipswich council plans to build new rubbish tip by 2025 with Riverview and Rosewood facilities running out of room

Delivering a brand new fit-for-purpose recycling and refuse centre is one of the key goals of the council’s recently adopted 10-year waste strategy.

Ipswich City Council will build a new recycling and refuse centre within the next four years.

IPSWICH City Council will build a new tip within the next four years to keep up with the city’s rapidly growing population with current facilities more than 25-years-old.

Delivering a brand new fit-for-purpose recycling and refuse centre is one of the key goals of the council’s recently adopted 10-year waste strategy.

A preliminary design and location for the facility is expected to be confirmed next year and it will be built in the 2024-25 financial year.

Ipswich councillors recently adopted the Ipswich Resource Recovery Strategy for 2021-2031.

The Riverview refuse centre is more than 30-years-old and had about 170,000 visitors last year, up from 142,000 in 2018.

The council says the city’s main tip is “experiencing significant capacity constraints” as it has not had a capacity upgrade since it was built.

The Rosewood tip is more than 25-years old.

Both are set for upgrades in the coming years but with Ipswich’s population expected to exceed 555,000 by 2041 and 400,000 by 2031, the need for an entirely new facility is clear.

The city will need to have capacity for 58,600 tonnes of rubbish in ten years.

The rubbish from council facilities is taken to private landfills, with recycling material going to third party processors.

“Results from the Reducing Our Waste community engagement found a majority of residents surveyed only wanted to travel 10 km to a recycling and refuse centre,” a council report noted.

“With significant population growth expected over the coming decade, particularly within the southeast corner of Ipswich, it is expected that more than 100,000 residents would not meet this community expectation by 2031.

The city will need to have capacity for 58,6000 tonnes of rubbish by 2031.

“The new recycling and refuse centre will be designed with an increased capability including the recovery of reusable items.

“The feasibility of a recycle mart (or tip shop) will be investigated in alignment with the delivery of the new recycling and refuse centre.

Mayor Teresa Harding said the process to determine where exactly the new tip will be located is being undertaken now.

“When our Riverview facility was built, God bless them, they got the best practice facility in the United States at the time,” she said.

“That’s why when you drive in you go in on the wrong side of the road.

“(A new facility) needs to be designed better, so it’s much easier for people to recycle products.

“We don’t want it right next to people’s homes.”

It costs residents $12 to dump half a tonne of rubbish at local tips but Cr Harding said it cost the council $70 to dispose of that same amount.

Division 2 councillors Nicole Jonic and Paul Tully promised to bring in tip vouchers during last year’s election campaign. Picture: Cordell Richardson

Tip vouchers were promised by Deputy Mayor Nicole Jonic and fellow Division 2 councillor Paul Tully during last year’s election campaign.

Cr Jonic said it would be “unsafe” to implement tip vouchers due to the increase of visitors it would create at already “overstretched” waste facilities in Riverview and Rosewood.

As it stands they just wouldn’t be able to cope,” Cr Jonic said.

“It would be a safety concern,” she said.

“We are definitely listening to the people and what they’re asking. We can’t just make a snap decision. We have to make sure everything is kosher and safe for the long run.

“By building another refuse centre (vouchers could be a possibility) if that’s what the public still want.”

About $2.17 million will go towards upgrading the Riverview Recycling and Refuse Centre and $4.5 million will be spent on an overhaul of the Rosewood Recycling and Refuse Centre through the state government’s South East Queensland Community Stimulus Program.

The council says the upgrades will focus on improving “facilities, customer service and access” and the work is expected to take place over the next three years.

Read more stories by Lachlan McIvor here.

Originally published as Ipswich council plans to build new rubbish tip by 2025 with Riverview and Rosewood facilities running out of room