The Queensland Government has announced an expansion of its $55 million Kerbside Bin Acceleration Fund to help local councils to make recycling easier for Queenslanders across the state.
The expanded Fund will give councils greater flexibility to invest in the services that suit their communities, including rolling out new green and yellow-lid recycling bins and community compost collection hubs and offering larger 360L yellow-lid bins so households can recycle more.
The $55 million Fund will help councils:
- Roll out new yellow-lid recycling bin services or provide larger sized yellow-lid bins – giving more Queenslanders the opportunity to recycle everyday items like cardboard, paper, cans and bottles instead of putting them in general waste;
- Introduce or expand green-lid organics bins – helping households keep organic materials like garden waste out of landfill;
- Establish community compost collection hubs – giving communities an alternative way to recycle organic waste where household collections may not be practical;
- Make bin lid colours consistent – helping Queenslanders know what goes in each bin, wherever they live, and reducing contamination.
To mark National Recycling Week, the Government is also investing almost $2.9 million to introduce consistent bin-lid colours for more than 136,000 households across Logan, Douglas Shire and the Sunshine Coast.
This includes changing over older dark green lids to red lids to make them consistent across the State and avoid any confusion with lighter green-lid organics bins.
Having clear, consistent bin colours across Queensland will make it easier for residents to know what goes in each bin, helping more people recycle correctly, reducing contamination and keeping valuable materials out of landfill, said Minister for the Environment and Tourism, Andrew Powell.
Mr Powell said the Government was determined to improve Queensland’s recycling performance by backing councils to deliver better local services.
“We believe that if Queenslanders are given more opportunities to recycle, they’ll give it a go, and we’re backing local councils to make recycling easier in their communities,” he said.
“Every community is different, which is why we’re investing $55 million to give councils more options to deliver the recycling services their residents need.”
Gladstone Region Mayor, Matt Burnett said the successful rollout of more than 17,000 garden organics bins demonstrated the community’s commitment to reducing waste and improving resource recovery.
“Since launching in July, we’ve already collected more than 782 tonnes of garden organics through more than 64,000 GO Bin services, with contamination rates of three per cent showing residents are embracing the new service and separating their garden waste responsibly,” Mayor Burnett said.
“Every GO Bin collection helps divert valuable garden organics from landfill, helping preserve landfill capacity and creating opportunities to turn this material into useful products and beneficial outcomes for our region.
“The Crisafulli Government’s support has been instrumental in helping Council deliver this important initiative, demonstrating what can be achieved when government and the community work together to reduce waste and improve resource recovery.”
City of Logan Mayor, Jon Raven said about 40,000 dark green bin lids would be replaced in Logan with red lids.
“It’s a simple change that we will roll out across the city,” Mayor Raven said.
“Residents don’t need to do anything; we’ll handle it all as part of their regular bin pick up over the next few weeks.”
More information: https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/waste-reduction-recycling/funding-grants.
