Queensland at Waste Crossroads

Wednesday, 31 October 2007 20:00

Queenslanders are the second highest landfillers of waste in Australia, and are the second worst recyclers, with only 27% of the 8.3 million tonnes of waste generated being recycled.

It’s also the only mainland state without a defensible waste strategy that incorporates both targets and associated action aimed at improving resource recovery.

Total Environment Centre Director, Jeff Angel said “Queensland is at a waste management and resource recovery crossroads. An important component of a sustainable society is the ability to recycle a maximum amount of material back into the economy. If Queensland wants to have a waste management system that is sustainable, this poor performance needs to be improved dramatically.”

The ‘State of Waste in Queensland’ report, produced by Warnken ISE predicts the high levels of waste generation could very well rise to over 20 million tonnes each year by 2025 and 18 million tonnes of this will be wasted in landfill.

“These levels will present a major future challenge for improvements in resource recovery. It is essential the Queensland government acts now and in a substantial way.  Queensland is way behind other states which have waste strategies with targets and action plans,” Mr. Angel said.

Queensland will need drastic changes at a policy and regulatory level, if the state is to meet national best practice standards. The report suggests improvements to waste management such as setting targets to benchmark resource recovery, the introduction of landfill levies and “polluter” fees and taxes, creation of a tradeable market such as in the UK LATS scheme, recycling credits under the National Emissions Trading Scheme and deposits, refunds and subsidies to encourage resource recovery.

“The recently released discussion paper, Queensland Waste Strategy (EPA) is just a small start and much more will be needed to ensure a sustainable Queensland,” argued Mr. Angel.

State of Waste Series: Queensland