Coast passes bin waste test

IPSWICH’S decision to ban the collection of recycling waste will have no bearing on the Gold Coast, a city councillor says.

Ipswich City Council this week confirmed it had ended its recycling scheme due to extra costs incurred by a Chinese recyclable import ban.

However, Gold Coast councillor Paul Taylor said the ban would have little impact here as the amount of waste being exported was minimal.

“The council has no intention to stop recycling operations or collections,” Cr Taylor said.

“The city’s recycling contract is not as affected as other councils and only between five to 10 per cent of our recyclable waste is being sold to China.”

Council has a full-limit contract with waste operators, which means the contractor, not the ratepayer, must absorb extra costs.

“This contract has two years to go,” Cr Taylor said.

“Most of our council’s waste — 95 per cent which is bottles glass, high-grade plastics, cardboard, metal — is unaffected as the material is used locally,” he said.

Cr Taylor said he suspected Ipswich council’s decision may also be impacted by the State Government’s plan to ban the interstate waste transfers business.

“Gold Coast City Council took the decision during the budget almost two years ago to dramatically increase charges to interstate hauling companies wanting to dump waste in Gold Coast tips, effectively shutting down Victoria and New South Wales business models.”

This forced companies to bypass the Gold Coast and dump in places like Ipswich over the past two years.