The Queensland government has launched a AU$487 million Waste Reduction and Recycling Activation Fund to drive local infrastructure, boost recycling rates, and divert thousands of tonnes of rubbish from landfill over the next five years.
The investment forms the backbone of the state’s Less Landfill, More Recycling 2035 plan, which aims to reverse a decade of declining resource recovery that left Queensland second-last nationally in overall recycling performance.
The five-year funding package will partner state government resources with local councils and industry to expand recycling capacity across metropolitan, regional, and remote communities. It comes alongside AU$488 million in annual payments provided to councils this year to help offset waste levy costs.
Key components of the package include a AU$40 million top-up to the Resource Recovery Boost Fund, taking its total to AU$170 million, and AU$55 million for the Kerbside Bin Activation Fund to expand household recycling and organics collection.
More importantly for regional communities, the package reinstates AU$11 million for a dedicated Regional Recycling Transport Fund. The program, which was discontinued under the previous government in 2020, provides transport support to move recyclable feedstock from regional areas to processing facilities.
Environment and Tourism Minister Andrew Powell said the fund supports practical projects across the state.
“Government doesn’t build recycling facilities itself. Our job is to partner with councils and industry, remove the barriers to investment and back practical projects that get more material out of landfill,” Powell said.
Local Government Association of Queensland CEO Alison Smith welcomed the restoration of transport funding.
“Councils have been consistently calling for this transportation funding to be restored because it is key to increasing recycling rates and reducing the overall amount of waste going to landfill in a state as decentralised as Queensland,” Smith said.
The broader package also allocates AU$17.7 million towards illegal dumping prevention, AU$18.5 million for public recycling education, and AU$11.7 million for waste technology and innovation.
