Published Yesterday at 11:30 AM

Minister for the Environment and Tourism and Minister for Science and Innovation
The Honourable Andrew Powell

Crisafulli Government to deliver Statewide Waste Infrastructure Roadmap to unlock investment and boost recycling

  • The Crisafulli Government is delivering a plan for Queensland’s future after a decade of waste policy failure under Labor.
  • A new Statewide Waste and Recycling Infrastructure Plan will unlock investment, lower landfill and lift recycling rates.
  • The Crisafulli Government reaffirms support for residual waste to energy treatments.
  • The plan builds on the Crisafulli Government’s $130 million Resource Recovery Boost Fund for critical waste infrastructure investment.  

The Crisafulli Government is cleaning up Labor’s decade of waste policy failure by delivering a Statewide Waste and Recycling Infrastructure Plan that will provide the certainty and co-ordination industry needs to make investment in Queensland. 

The roadmap will give industry a clear picture of where opportunities exist and provide businesses with the confidence to invest and expand waste processing across the state. 

It’s just one of the ways the Crisafulli Government is delivering a plan for Queensland’s future after a decade of decline under Labor. 

The Statewide Waste and Recycling Infrastructure Plan will map a pathway for waste infrastructure across Queensland and will: 

  • show how much waste Queensland produces and where it goes 

  • map existing facilities and identify where additional capacity is needed 

  • identify hubs to move waste in regional and remote areas 

  • support small-scale local processing where it makes sense 

  • look at common sense ways to manage leftover waste through residual waste treatments including waste-to-energy. 

The Roadmap will bring together local councils, industry and investors to share data, understand market needs, identify the best locations for new facilities and create the right conditions for long-term private investment.  

The work will update data from the Arcadis report which was commissioned by the former Labor government in 2019, the data behind which is now almost a decade old. 

It will also examine opportunities to establish residual waste-to-energy facilities, building on momentum in South East Queensland and exploring how emerging technologies could support regional communities. 

The Crisafulli Government has recently provided $1.49 million to the Council of Mayors Southeast Queensland (COMSEQ) to continue their investigations in to waste-to-energy.  

The funding delivers on the Crisafulli Government’s commitment to support councils investigating residual waste-to-energy solutions. 

The Waste and Recycling Infrastructure Roadmap will work alongside the Crisafulli Government’s $130 million Resource Recovery Boost Fund, which is helping deliver critical waste infrastructure across the state. 

Minister for the Environment Andrew Powell said the Crisafulli Government was delivering the coordination Queensland’s waste system, councils and the private sector had been calling for. 

"After a decade of drift under Labor, the Crisafulli Government has been working calmly and methodically to deliver a plan for Queensland’s future,” Minister Powell said. 

“We’re getting on with the job of ensuring Queensland is in the best position to attract the investment needed to future-proof Queensland’s waste system, reduce what goes to landfill and boost recycling across the State. 

“That’s good for industry, and it’s good for our natural environment - because the more waste we recover and reuse, the less ends up in landfill. 

“Our Statewide Waste and Recycling Infrastructure Plan will send a clear message to investors that Queensland is open for business.” 

Queensland’s new Waste Strategy will be released this year, with more than 130 submissions from across Queensland helping to shape the final strategy. Waste Levy arrangements will be reviewed as part of the Budget process. 

ENDS 

MEDIA CONTACT: Marshall Leeson, 0419 976 438