Stronger regulations for composting facilities

• The Miles Government has introduced stronger regulations for composting facilities to reduce the impact of odour on nearby residents.
• In recent public consultation, more than 93% of the community and 70% of industry and local government respondents supported stronger regulations.
• New and expanding composting facilities within four kilometres of residential areas may be required to use enclosed or in-vessel facilities if receiving odorous waste.

Queensland communities will be better protected against odours from nearby composting facilities thanks to stronger regulations implemented by the Miles Government.

The changes support the environmental regulator to require new and expanding composting facilities located within four kilometres of a residential zone that receive odorous waste to have in-vessel or enclosed processing.

This form of processing is considered best practice in reducing odour from leaving the site and affecting nearby residents.

The changes will also support the regulator to update the environmental authorities of existing composting facilities on a site-by-site basis.

The regulator will also have the power to ensure transporters of highly odorous waste do not take waste to sites which do not meet these requirements.

Recent consultation on the proposed changes was met with overwhelming support from community members, industry, and local government.

More than 93 per cent of community feedback and more than 70 per cent of industry and local government responses called for stronger regulation of composting facilities, with the aim to reduce the impact of odour on nearby communities.

The government has moved quickly to implement the stronger regulations.

While the changes apply statewide, the need for the stronger regulations largely arose from odour issues impacting the Ipswich community.

In 2023, the Queensland Government received more than 8000 community complaints about odour. Most related to composting facilities in the Swanbank and New Chum areas near Ipswich.

The number of community nuisance odour notifications received by the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation in June 2024 had reduced by 70% compared to June last year.

The implementation of stronger regulations for composting facilities is part of a five-point action plan to address odour issues in the Ipswich area which also includes increased compliance activities, expansion of air monitoring, amendments to powers and penalties in the Environmental Protection Act 1994 and enhanced community engagement.

The increased compliance activities has seen a 40% increase in the number of inspections conducted compared to 2023, and almost triple the number of enforcement notices issued.

Quotes attributable to the Minister for the Environment and the Great Barrier Reef, Leanne Linard:

“The Miles Government is doing what matters for Queensland.

“Odour is affecting the lives of thousands of Queenslanders every day, particularly in the Swanbank and New Chum areas. This is simply unacceptable and since becoming Minister addressing this has been a top priority.

“The members for Bundamba, Jordan, and Ipswich have been strong advocates for their communities in calling for more to be done to resolve odour issues.

“At a community meeting in Redbank Plains in September, I gave a commitment that the government would consider stronger regulations that would require all existing organics facilities in close proximity to residential areas to transition to fully-enclosed facilities.

“The Miles Government has delivered on that commitment.

“For years, the Environmental Regulator has tried to get some operators to do the right thing, now we have taken decisive action to strengthen the regulations and make sure that the community’s interests are protected.

“We have seen that the LNP likes to support business interests above all others. It takes leadership to ensure that people come first.”

Quotes attributable to Member for Bundamba, Lance McCallum:

"There is overwhelming support from our community for stronger regulations for composting facilities and the Miles Government and has taken swift action make them a reality.

"Too many local families and households have suffered because of the failure of a rogue waste operators, and composters in particular, who have zero social licence because they show our community zero respect.”

Quotes attributable to Member for Jordan, Charis Mullen:

“The Miles Government is supporting the independent environmental regulator by giving it stronger laws and regulations to tackle the odour issues impacting communities such as ours.

“It is encouraging that there has been a significant drop in nuisance odour notifications in the past 12 months, however some residents are still being impacted and we must continue to work to address the issue.”

Quotes attributable to Member for Ipswich, Jennifer Howard:

“Ipswich Labor MPs have delivered on stronger powers in the Environmental Protection Act 1994 and now stronger regulations for composting facilities.

“We will continue to listen to our community and lobby the Minister to make businesses responsible for the odours they are creating, and work to reduce them.”

Further information:

The changes will not affect composting facilities that are located more than four kilometres away from residential zones or are not receiving odorous waste.

ENDS

Media contact: Scott Chandler – (07) 3719 7339