Less tax more action: councils unite on waste

Published on 22 October 2025

Queensland councils have joined forces to call for the urgent investment and action they need to chart a fairer path to reducing waste and increasing recycling for communities across the State.

Standards for producers creating problem waste streams, a clear infrastructure investment plan matching State recycling targets and support for a major statewide behavioural education plan are vital missing pieces of the puzzle preventing Queenslanders from reducing landfill, according to a six-point plan from councils released at the 129th Annual Conference at the Gold Coast today.

According to its own Budget projections, the State Government expects to collect $1.48 billion from the waste levy over the next three years.

LGAQ President Matt Burnett said that the State Government’s recent commitment of $130 million to help cut the amount of waste being dumped, while welcome, was not enough.

“Councils say it’s not fair that the State is collecting a waste windfall but is only returning a fraction of it to address this issue,” Mayor Burnett said.

“Councils have released a sensible plan which calls for the urgent action and investment by the state to chart a fairer path to reducing waste and increasing recycling for their communities.”

LGAQ Chief Executive Officer Alison Smith said the calls endorsed at the LGAQ Annual Conference spotlighted an urgent need for the State Government to invest in options beyond landfill that supported Queenslanders in diverting rubbish.

“Every day councils are on the ground collecting rubbish and providing the services that protect our environment,” Ms Smith said.

“As the level of government closest to the community, councils have unparallelled insights into what Queenslanders need.

“Queenslanders support recycling, but if household rubbish is to go somewhere other than landfill, there needs to be State Government support to create options beyond landfill that we can divert our rubbish to.”

Councils six-point plan calls for:

• standards for the producers who are creating problem waste streams,
• clear infrastructure investment plan that matches State recycling targets,
• and support for a major statewide behavioural education plan.

“Let’s get a plan that can work - a State Government bin tax is not the solution,” Ms Smith said.

“Our current #BinTheTax campaign, led by our AI-generated bin chicken Chooky continues to gain momentum, with Queenslanders visiting our campaign page and getting behind the call for the State Government to cover the costs to households until regional targets are more realistic and sustained investment has been made.”

View video grabs from LGAQ CEO Alison Smith.

Quotes attributable to mayors:

City of Moreton Bay Mayor Peter Flannery: “We brought in our green waste bins, our GO bins in December last year. We've rolled that program out through our urban areas. There's been a huge take up of it and the community is very supportive. We want to now go to the next step of food organics being added to that as well.

That's a huge investment that we need support from the State Government on with the technology and the billions of dollars needed to set these kinds of industries up.

We can't hit those targets being set for us unless we have that support and the commitment from the State Government to go on this journey with us.”

Rockhampton Regional Council Mayor Tony Williams: “Councils and communities like ours in Rocky are working hard to reduce waste – but we need more support and willingness from other levels of government to stop waste at the start.

We’re in dire need of standards for producers to help manage problem waste streams like tyres that are clogging up our landfill and threatening our environment.

Ultimately we all want the same thing – but our ratepayers don’t deserve to be taxed when there are no standards for some of the biggest creators of rubbish.”

Mount Isa City Council Mayor Peta MacRae: “We need greater incentives for local solutions that have proven to be effective. The Containers For Change scheme has helped improve the level of cleanliness in Mount Isa.

With inflation, everything else is going up – increasing it from 10 cents to 20 cents a container would further incentivise container recovery and support the scheme and its aims.”

Mareeba Shire Council Mayor Angela Toppin: “We’re proud of the work of our community in Mareeba to reduce waste and boost our recycling. But we are fighting a losing battle if we don’t look at targeting waste generation at the source.

We need State and Federal Governments to look at mandatory responsibilities for producers – materials like single-use products and packaging are ending up in landfill.

We all need to play a part.”

Balonne Shire Council Mayor Samatha O’Toole: “Small, regional and remote communities – like ours – face unique challenges when it comes to waste.

Despite being the ones on the ground who understand our community best – regional waste reduction targets are not currently reflective of local needs.

We have smaller populations and larger landmass – it means transport becomes an issue. Food and organic disposal is impacted by temperatures and weather out west.

We need the State Government to recognise the needs of our communities – and work with us so we can share what we know will be most effective.”

Torres Shire Council Mayor Elsie Seriat: “Water separates our communities. We face significant costs and challenging logistics involved in not only transporting waste, but the additional costs of landfilling and aging infrastructure due to harsh conditions. Biosecurity presents an added risk for waste management in our region. Additional support to navigate these challenges is vital.”

For more information, please contact:

Dan Knowles, Media Advisor