The average Ipswich household sends about 1 tonne of waste to landfill each year. More than 70 per cent of those materials could be diverted from landfill today.
Ipswich residents are being called on to have their say during November on ways for Ipswich to become more sustainable with its resources and reduce the amount of waste our community sends to landfill.
Growth, Infrastructure and Waste Committee chairperson Mayor Teresa Harding said we have to divert half of what the City of Ipswich sends to landfill by 2025 in order to meet ambitious targets.
“There are many challenges, but also many exciting opportunities for council and the community to work together and create real change in how we reduce Ipswich’s waste going to landfill,” she said.
For example, each year the amount of food sent to landfill by Ipswich households is equivalent to the weight of more than 100 Boeing C-17 Globemaster aircraft. This food could easily be diverted into composting – changing it from a waste into a resource.
Mayor Harding said council had a legal responsibility to plan for how we deal with waste generated in Ipswich, by the Ipswich community.
“Our current strategy was adopted in 2017, but so much has changed since then on an international, national and local scale. Both state and federal governments have set ambitious targets for recycling and reducing waste to landfill,” she said.
“At the same time we have a population set to double in 20 years, so how Ipswich deals with the waste we create in our own community is vital to having a liveable city now and into the future.”
In particular, council is seeking ideas and feedback on four key topics; food and organic waste, glass recycling, large item kerbside collection and council infrastructure.
This community input will be important for informing updates to the revised Materials Recovery Plan, which sets strategies for diverting Ipswich’s waste from landfill and increasing resource recovery.
Join the conversation on www.shapeyouripswich.com.au
We currently take our glass recycling that containers for change won’t accept to our family in the Redlands so it can be revealed there. Which is utterly ridiculous, it is the easiest material to recycle yet ICC don’t ! I think more info needs to be sent out with rates & in letter drops/emails/ Facebook ads etc about what is acceptable into recycling bins. As I drive around Springfield on rubbish day I see so much incorrect items in recycling bins. I think maybe fines for misuse is also something to consider as more of a deterrant also.
Ohh fines ay, well I just won’t use it if there is a chance to be fined
As Ipswich city does not recycle what’s put in the recycle bins (the entire recycle load goes into land fill as we have no recycling system at the moment) don’t fret about what’s being put in the bin, but rather petition the ICC to start recycling again. As this action (dumping the recyclable waste into landfill) is witnessed on a daily basis by my son, don’t be fooled by false information. Ipswich does not recycle.
Until Ipswich City Council will recycle glass which should be one of the easiest materials to recycle, people are not going to recycle properly. Yet they will keep putting our rates up. What else is going Is going into landfill that we don’t know about Council.
Fine people for using recycle bins for non recyclable product.
Grind/shred waste at transfer stations prior to landfill. This will improve volume and transport efficiency and aid in early breakdown of materials.
Stop using available landfill site for other states. Let them deal with their own rubbish.
Of all the waste site willowbank seems to have next to no complaint of noise smell or traffic. What ever they are doing seems to work.
Why cant ipswich council invest in the recycling and sale of these material.
Food and green waste only bins could be used to collect for composting on a large scale.
But most of all decisions made by politicians both local and state should not impact on the daily lives of it residence. People come first not dollars.
Maybe stop dumping the recycling into the general tip !
I’ve watched them doing it for MONTHS on end…. what’s the point in residents recycling if it’s only going to end up in landfill anyway
Please bring back glass recycling.nit feels criminal to be throwing glass in the general waste bin in this day and age. Inside collection once a year is greatly appreciated. People can take what they want and up cycle the rest can go to the dump.
Please, let’s return to recycling glass! This was done even when I was a child, I’m now 62, why is it we now have to throw glass in the bin.
We should be recycling glass. It is one of the easiest to recycle . Just think of all the wine bottles, and pasta sauce jars that would be taken out of landfill. Also the recycling bins should be larger as ours is full every fortnight. Also all households should be provided with a green waste bin included in their rates.
Bring back glass recycling or allow it to be dropped off at the 10 cent drop off centers albeit for no money for me. Beats dropping dropping in the bin.
Making a special trip to the dump to drop off my few pasta jars and alcohol bottles is time consuming for such a small amount.
We moved from a small (population of 12000) town in NSW last year.We had 4 bins.They recycled glass,plastics,cardboard and paper and then we had the non recyclable rubbish bin.The tip was free for the first 2 visits a day and the 3 rd $3.50.Council rates were very comparable. We were shocked that we had to put glass into our non recyclable bin when we came to Qld.
Thanks for the comments re the recycling process. Please refer to Recycling FAQs on council’s webpage for more information: https://www.ipswich.qld.gov.au/live/waste-and-recycling/recycling