{"id":452427,"date":"2026-02-01T22:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T22:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/452427\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T22:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T22:28:12","slug":"targets-not-met-as-waste-growth-outpaces-increase-in-population-across-queensland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/452427\/","title":{"rendered":"Targets not met as waste growth outpaces increase in population across Queensland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Queensland is generating waste at a faster rate than its population growth, with hundreds of thousands of extra tonnes of rubbish created in the past year.<\/p>\n

The findings have been revealed in a new report from the state government, which also highlighted how the proportion of municipal waste diverted from landfill was flatlining.<\/p>\n

In the 2024-25 financial year, Queensland generated 10.25 million tonnes of waste, which was a 4.5 per cent jump from the year before.<\/p>\n

That equated to an extra 440,000 tonnes of rubbish, with the growth outpacing the state’s 2.3 per cent population increase over the same period.<\/p>\n

About 57.8 per cent of all waste was recovered and diverted from landfill, which was a slight improvement from the 57.1 per cent that was diverted in 2023-24.<\/p>\n

This was mainly driven by an uptick in the recovery of commercial, industrial, construction and demolition rubbish, rather than municipal waste.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Less than one third of municipal waste is diverted from landfill across Queensland. (ABC News: James Maasdorp)<\/p>\n

Overall, 55.8 per cent of commercial and industrial waste was diverted from landfill, as well as 85 per cent of construction and demolition rubbish.<\/p>\n

But for municipal solid waste, which included household rubbish, the recovery rate was a lower 28.2 per cent \u2014 a minuscule reduction from 28.3 per cent the year before.<\/p>\n

The proportion of municipal waste diverted from landfill has remained below 30 per cent since 2019-20.<\/p>\n

The government’s report noted less than a third of household waste was recovered in 2024-25.<\/p>\n

Targets not met\"A<\/p>\n

A target to recover more than half of municipal solid waste by 2025 fell way short. (ABC News: Chris Gillette)<\/p>\n

The former state Labor government set an interim target in 2019 to recover 55 per cent of municipal solid waste by 2025 \u2014 something that has not been achieved.<\/p>\n

A target to divert 65 per cent of commercial and industrial waste by 2025 has also not been met.<\/p>\n

But another goal to divert 75 per cent of construction and demolition waste has been reached.<\/p>\n

The current LNP government is reviewing Queensland’s waste strategy, including the targets and waste levy.<\/p>\n

A draft waste strategy was released for consultation last year.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Andrew Powell says the government is preparing to release details of its new waste strategy. (ABC News: Mark Leonardi)<\/p>\n

In a statement, Environment Minister Andrew Powell said the government was focused on turning around the trend of waste going to landfill.<\/p>\n

“That’s why we’re already working with local councils and industry to boost recycling across the state,” Mr Powell said.<\/p>\n

Transforming soft plastics <\/a><\/p>\n

Australia’s first large-scale soft plastics recycling facility is processing huge volumes daily.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The final waste strategy will be released shortly, and it will be about delivery \u2014 working with councils and industry to lift recycling rates and reduce environmental impacts.”<\/p>\n

Always ‘someone else’s problem’<\/p>\n

Waste and Recycling Industry of Queensland chief executive, Alison Price, said landfill costs were quite cheap in the state.<\/p>\n

“At some point, we’re going to have to start being more careful, more waste conscience,” Ms Price said.<\/p>\n

“Unfortunately, I think Queenslanders, once they have put something in their wheelie bin and popped it on the curb, it’s someone else’s problem.<\/p>\n

“And until it starts costing them a lot more, we won’t see a lot of change in behaviour.”<\/p>\n

Ms Price said the new waste strategy would be critical for Queensland.<\/p>\n

“We are really looking to see a government willing to step up and make some hard decisions,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queensland is generating waste at a faster rate than its population growth, with hundreds of thousands of extra…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249759,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,75,2593,3786,95404,63446,94,701,57305,128,77524,4931],"class_list":["post-452427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-environment","tag-garbage","tag-government","tag-landfill","tag-population","tag-qld","tag-queensland","tag-rubbish","tag-science","tag-trash","tag-waste"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}