Redland City Council has been awarded more than $480,000 in Queensland Government funding through the Let’s Get it Sorted Partnership Program to improve waste management practices in the community.
Mayor Jos Mitchell said the funding would go towards a citywide behaviour change initiative aimed at improving household recycling rates and lowering the amount of waste being sent to landfill.
“To reach the statewide target of establishing a zero-waste society by 2050, we need households and workplaces across the city to be disposing of their waste responsibly,” the Mayor said.
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“At the moment, about 16 per cent of what is being sent to landfill through kerbside general waste bins could be recycled, with the most common culprits being paper, cardboard and hard plastics.
“We also have seen a rise in non-recyclable items such as soft plastics, bagged waste, bagged recyclables and green waste ending up in yellow-lid bins, which lowers the quality of recycled materials and adds to the costs of processing these goods for re-use.
“By improving education around the importance of residents separating out their household waste, which will be one of the main aims of the initiative, we can not only keep these costs down but also work towards creating a more sustainable future for the city.
“Council is already running a range of waste management programs in the community and the state-funded initiative will be beneficial to the ongoing success of this work, particularly when it comes to boosting recycling and decreasing contamination rates.”
Lowering the amount of waste being sent to landfill on Redlands Coast is a critical issue for Council, with an increase in the statewide waste levy estimated to add $170 per year to the average household bill by 2030.
The initiative, and more specifically the ongoing education around the importance of making sure the right items are going in the right bins, will assist with mitigating the impacts of these rising costs.
Key activities will include audits of Council’s yellow-lid bins to assess the level of contamination. Council will then review this data and provide targeted feedback to the community through bin tags, letters and educational material.
Further details about the program will be announced to the public prior to the initiative commencing, which is expected to be within the first few months of 2025.
This initiative is supported by the Queensland Government’s Recycling and Jobs Fund.
Redland City Council was one of 26 Queensland councils and two Regional Organisations of Councils to benefit from the first tranche of the program, receiving $486,855.
For more information about the Let’s Get it Sorted Partnership Program, visit the Department’s website.
Redland City Council provides a suite of services to 166,873 residents and more than 63,000 residential households across Redlands Coast. Our naturally wonderful city on Quandamooka Country is home to more than 335 kilometres of coastline, six island communities and 12 mainland suburbs.
