Almost a thousand tonnes of material have been kept out of landfill as Ipswich City Council’s cleaner and greener kerbside collection program achieved an almost 70 per cent recycling rate during its first year.
More than 12,000 Ipswich residents have used the free On-Demand Large Item Kerbside Collection to discard unwanted items such as furniture, white goods and toys after the program was launched in January 2024.
Environment and Sustainability Chairperson Councillor Jim Madden said the results over the first year showed the program is a success.
“This innovative program allows residents to request collection when they want, rather than having to wait for a designated pick-up date,” Cr Madden said.
“What’s more, this program is smashing its sustainability targets.
“We had set a minimum target of a 50 per cent recycling rate, but I’m proud to report we have achieved a remarkable 69 per cent rate.
“That means after collecting 1,368.7 tonnes of material in just one year, we have recycled more than 944.42 tonnes.
“It’s a far better outcome than under the previous program, when materials were collected biannually and went straight to landfill, creating a massive amount of waste.”
Under the program, Ipswich residents are entitled to one free collection each year at a time of their choosing.
Residents can go online or call to request a two cubic metre bag to place items on the kerbside ahead of collection, concealing them from view.
“Instead of piles of rubbish lining the streets of our suburbs during kerbside collection periods, our residents are enjoying having control and choice when it comes to discarding large items,” Cr Madden said.
“This is another way council is delivering cleaner, greener services for Ipswich residents to enjoy.”
The bags, known as FLEXiSKiP, are heavy duty and are big enough to fit couches, mattresses, washing machines, bikes and other large items.
The bags are delivered to residents by staff members of contractor Handel Group, who then return to collect the filled bags within a specified timeframe.
The service can be booked at Ipswich.qld.gov.au/kerbside or by calling the customer service centre on 07 3130 0412.
I think the bags are too small for annual pick up. They’d be great if they were available every six months or if requested…a second flexiskip provided at very cheap rate.
Flexi skip is not big enough to accommodate big couches , king size bed frames or mattress along with other stuff that needs to go for kerb side collection.
I am happy to hear that the recycling product has increased but it does not fit the purpose of kerb side collection a bit larger bags will be helpful or at least two per house will be very helpful.
We need help with collection of larger products not small ones . Small ones could fit in a car to be dumped at the recycling station we need hand with collection of larger items and the Flexi skip doesn’t fit that purpose as I was one of the residents who have use the facility and had put in a complaint about the same.
Timeframes for collection appear to have blown out with wait times twice as long (and then some) as stated.
Too bad we’ve only had ONE kerbside collection since we moved to Goodna in 2021. I would love to know where the Biannual collections figures came from. Due to street trees, footpaths, utilities covers etc most of the people in my area are ineligible based on the bag’s placement guidelines. When two were placed in the street they say for almost 3 months and were picked over and ravaged by storms in the process. The system appears to be great for a select few, but imagine if all tax-paying residents were actually getting what they were entitled to! These complaints fall on council’s deaf ears while the price of residential dumping rises every year. Is it any wonder why people are illegally dumping? The ball’s in your court, ICC!
If only they were collected in a timely manner. They are left on footpaths and quickly become an eyesore.