2018-06-27 SM - Attachment 1 to Item 2 - Directions Paper Transforming Queensland's Recycling & Waste Industry

 developing local markets in close proximity to the recovered resources, particularly in remote areas, which
  would reduce prohibitive transportation costs for both the waste and the recovered resource.
 market development to be supported by landfill bans to eliminate the cheap disposal option, and regulations to
  limit stockpiling of banned materials. Organic waste, tyres, mattresses and glass were given as examples of
  waste types which would benefit from stronger government-led market development.

Waste management and resource recovery infrastructure capacity
In 2015, Arcadis Australia Pacific (Arcadis) was engaged by the former EHP to undertake a comprehensive
assessment of waste infrastructure capacity across Queensland, including the capacity that would be required to
meet the Strategy’s resource recovery targets.

The findings of the assessment indicate that several regions will require significant additional resource recovery
infrastructure to meet the targets for MSW, C&I and C&D recycling. Whilst the department has commenced the
process to develop a state-wide infrastructure plan, there is an obvious lack of measures in the Strategy to address
this critical infrastructure gap, for example through financing and incentive mechanisms, or through raising the
profile of waste infrastructure priorities under the State Infrastructure Plan.6

Regional and remote issues
Councils in the remote region of Queensland typically dispose of more waste to landfill, recover less resources
from waste, offer fewer waste management services, and are confronted by litter and illegal dumping when
compared to SEQ and regional centres. While the Strategy recognises the importance of regional development, it
lacks the interventions to address these disparities and the underling challenges faced by these councils, including:

 significant distances to markets for recovered resources
 difficult road conditions with limited accessibility in the wet season
 limited availability of parts and skills for operating and maintaining waste infrastructure and equipment
 in the case of the Torres Strait Islands, quarantine restrictions on the southward movement of goods (including
  recyclables) to the mainland
 small dispersed populations with limited financial resources
 poor infrastructure and equipment for waste management.

9.   The Strategy lacks effective interventions to reverse the current waste disposal trends

The amount of waste per capita going to landfill has increased by 2.2 per cent since FY2008 and by 5 per cent
since FY2013, partly due to increased importation of waste into Queensland from other Australian jurisdictions
(interstate waste), continuous improvement in compliance monitoring and enforcement by state and local
governments resulting in more waste entering the lawful waste management system, and continuous
improvements in the accuracy of data measurement (for example, through the increasing use of landfill
weighbridges).

The Strategy does not identify specific interventions or a credible pathway to achieve the 2024 target of reducing
landfilled waste to 3.97 million tonnes. Because the amount of waste going to landfill has increased since 2013,
achieving the 2024 target of 3.97 million tonnes would require the amount of waste landfilled in FY2016 to be
reduced by approximately 20 per cent. In order to address this widening gap, a range of regulatory, economic,
social and other incentives and disincentives must be identified and evaluated.

Interstate waste
On average, more than 465,000 tonnes per year of interstate waste were received by Queensland’s landfills
between 2014 and 2016, accounting for 5.4 per cent of the reported general waste total (Table 3). While the
majority of this waste is directed to a few facilities in SEQ where it provides an additional source of revenue for
waste operators, it also consumes landfill capacity that may shorten the operating lifetime of existing facilities.

The majority of stakeholders felt that more needed to be done to discourage interstate waste, and in this respect
called for the reintroduction of a landfill levy. Conversely, one stakeholder viewed interstate waste as an economic
and jobs opportunity for the waste industry and felt that interstate waste should be encouraged.



6
  Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning 2016, State Infrastructure Plan Part A: Strategy
<http://www.dilgp.qld.gov.au/resources/plan/sip/sip-part-a.pdf> accessed 7 August 2017.



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