Brisbane City Council bin changes: What you need to know
From August, all households in the Brisbane City Council area will pay a flat $512.96 annual fee for disposal of their waste.
The city's previous opt-in style system meant only those who ordered a green bin paid an additional $49.62 per year to the $462.96 waste fee.
Under the new system, every eligible household will automatically receive a green bin unless they choose to opt out.
The Brisbane City Council says the change will ensure that renters, who previously may not have had access to green waste disposal, are now included.
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner announced the initiative during his Budget Speech, highlighting the environmental benefits of expanding the program.
'There are now 170,000 green bins in Brisbane, which is about half the eligible homes,' he said.
'We're now going to roll out green bins to every eligible house.'
He confirmed the council the resources in place to support the rollout of green waste bins to thousands of households across the city.
'Contracts that have already been debated and passed through this chamber show we have locked in the supply of green bins,' Mr Schrinner said.
'In fact, the stockpiles of green bins we now have at our Resource Recovery Centres ready for the rollout are so large you could probably see them from space.'
The bins will be distributed to approximately 170,000 stand-alone homes, while apartment residents will still need to opt in to receive one.
The rollout follows low uptake of the council's previous opt-in scheme, under which only 30 per cent of eligible homeowners paid the additional $49.62 annual fee for a green bin.
Mr Schrinner said the rollout will help the council sidestep the state government's 'bin tax', better known as the waste levy.
Brisbane City Council estimates it will save between $2million and $3million in the first year of its expanded green waste bin program, with potential savings reaching up to $32 million over five years.
The financial benefit comes from diverting more organic waste away from landfill, helping the council avoid hefty charges under Queensland's waste levy.
Introduced in 2019, the levy currently costs councils around $115 per tonne of general waste sent to landfill.
That figure is set to rise by $10 annually until 2028, making landfill disposal increasingly expensive.
'Every house will get a green bin, and that will be part of the business as usual service,' Schrinner told the Brisbane Times.
'The reason we're doing that is because of the state government's bin tax… that effectively forces ever-increasing costs onto councils.'
The state government introduced the levy in 2019, and charge council about $115 for each tonne of waste that arrives in landfill.
The rate is set to increase by $10 each year until 2028.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
8 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
The shocking signs and flags at the Harbour Bridge protest - amid warning it could set a new legal precedent
Sydney 's pro-Palestine protest on the Harbour Bridge was marred by a small minority chanting antisemitic slogans and carrying inflammatory posters, as more than 90,000 people braved the rain to take part. The massive demonstration has sparked warnings that it could set a precedent for more large-scale marches to be held on the iconic bridge. Giant Palestinian flags were unfurled across the city as protesters banged pots and pans to highlight the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where severe food shortages and malnutrition have been reported as a result of the ongoing conflict and blockade. Among the crowd, a large portrait of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, shown holding a rifle, was prominently displayed. Khamenei, who has ruled Iran for more than three decades, is widely regarded as a despot who has brutally repressed women's rights and ordered the mass killings of pro-democracy activists. Other protesters held signs depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a Hitler-style moustache and the word 'terrorist' beneath. Queers for Palestine also joined the protest, holding a sign that read, ' Penny Wong kills lesbians in Gaza'. Other demonstrators used the rally to take aim at Australia as well. One carried a sign saying, 'Abolish Israel, abolish Australia – Land back.' Another protester even posted on social media calling for the Sydney Harbour Bridge to be torn down ahead of the event. 'Don't go on the Sydney Harbour with Australian nationalistic fervour. Nationalistic pride is genocidal. Go on the Sydney Harbour because it's a symbol of colonialism that need to be torn down. 'Too many are in love with their Australinanness, but we should be challenging the national culture, not reinforcing or appealing it,' they said. Another protester was seen wearing a jumper emblazoned with the slogan 'Death to the IDF', directly targeting Israel's military, while another carried a sign declaring 'Zionists are Neo-Nazis'. Another protester showed his support for Dr Abbasi, an Iranian scientist who openly supported Iran's nuclear program and was killed in Israeli strikes in June. Many black and white Islamic flags often used by Islamist groups to symbolize jihad and Islamic unity - were also seen on the bridge. Chants of 'Long live Intifada' – a phrase commonly associated with violent uprisings against Israel – as well as 'Death to the IDF' and 'Death to Netanyahu' also echoed across the bridge. 'Whether they realise it or not, they're endorsing the same terror that targets Jews, Israel, and the West,' one critic said. NSW Police praised the general behaviour of protesters but were forced to turn the crowd around about an hour into the march because of the 'risk of injury, due to the huge number of people taking part'. Acting Assistant Commissioner Adam Johnson described the situation as 'perilous' and said he feared someone could be killed. 'That was a very intense situation. We had more people than I'd ever seen in a small confined space,' he said. Protester Michael Morrell, who carried a sign reading 'Never again really?', told The Australian he believed the situation in Gaza amounted to genocide. 'They said it would never happen again, well guess what, the Zionist state is perpetrating exactly the same thing the Nazis were doing to the Jews in the Second World War,' he said. Earlier in the week, NSW Police admitted they could not ensure a safe environment for the rally and sought a prohibition order from the courts. But on Saturday, Supreme Court Justice Belinda Rigg rejected the request, ruling that the inconvenience to residents and commuters did not outweigh the right to peaceful assembly. 'It is in the nature of peaceful protests to cause disruption to others,' she said. Legal expert Patrick Schmidt warned the decision could pave the way for more protests on the bridge. 'The police or government can't stop a lawful peaceful protest, the issue is the scale of it,' Mr Schmidt told the Daily Telegraph. 'The major issue is the logistics of it all – as opposed to the legality. 'It's a public safety issue – it's not so much about the convenience – it's getting enough boots on the ground. 'The significance of using the Harbour Bridge is it will get picked up by world media. 'If it happened every weekend how would you get the public attention to it. It would lose a lot of vigour.' High-profile participants included Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, former Socceroos captain Craig Foster, former Labor foreign affairs minister Bob Carr and federal Labor MP Ed Husic. 'Just as some underestimated the amount of people that would turn up on the bridge, I think Australian politics has underestimated how strongly Australians feel about this issue,' Mr Husic, a former cabinet minister, told ABC Radio on Monday. 'This is a moment – a wake-up call – for Australian politics. 'When I looked in that crowd, you had people that you would expect … protesting, but there was a lot of middle Australia there and that's something that can't be ignored.' The protest took place against the backdrop of Israel's military campaign, which began after militant group Hamas – deemed a terrorist organisation by Australia – attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 251 hostages. The subsequent bombardment and blockade of Gaza have killed more than 60,000 people, according to Gaza health ministry sources. The United Nations projects that Gaza's population of 2.1 million people will face extremely high levels of acute food insecurity, with one million already at emergency levels. On Monday, Senator Penny Wong announced Australia would provide an additional $20 million in aid to deliver food, medical supplies for field hospitals and other lifesaving support to women and children in Gaza, following the establishment of new humanitarian corridors. The Australian Government has now committed more than $130million in humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza and Lebanon since October 2023. Ms Wong said Australia had consistently joined international calls for Israel to allow the full and immediate resumption of aid to Gaza, in line with the binding orders of the International Court of Justice. 'The suffering and starvation of civilians in Gaza must end,' she said. 'Australia will continue to work with the international community to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the release of hostages and a two-state solution – the only path to enduring peace and security for the Israeli and Palestinian peoples.'
The Guardian
38 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Ed Husic says politicians ‘underestimated' Australia's outrage about Gaza as Albanese pursues call with Netanyahu
Labor MP Ed Husic says Australian politicians have 'underestimated how strongly Australians feel' about Israel's conduct in Gaza after a pro-Palestine march across Sydney Harbour Bridge, with Anthony Albanese to pursue a call with Benjamin Netanyahu this week. Police said around 100,000 people walked across the bridge, double the estimated turnout and described by New South Wales police as the largest protest to descend on the city in recent memory. March organisers the Palestine Action Group put the crowd size at 300,000. Images of the event were broadcast around the world. He said he would love the federal government to immediately recognise Palestinian statehood, a move Labor has flagged could come as soon as next month at the United Nations general assembly. 'I think it's an important signal to send,' he said. 'But it's up to the PM, obviously, who's juggling a lot of different considerations before making that call, but I think he would get massive support out of Australians if he did it today.' 'I think Australian politics has underestimated how strongly Australians feel about this issue … I think this is a moment, a sort of wake-up call for Australian politics.' Following the march, Albanese was seeking to press his Israeli counterpart about the devastation in Gaza in an upcoming phone call. Guardian Australia has been told Albanese hopes to speak to Netanyahu as soon as a phone call can be locked in. The assistant minister for immigration, Matt Thistlethwaite, told Sky a conversation between Albanese and Netanyahu was 'being pursued' this week. News Corp's The Australian reported on Monday that one protester held up a picture of the Iranian dictator, shown standing with a rifle, which was displayed behind high profile marchers including Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, former foreign minister Bob Carr and human rights campaigner and footballer Craig Foster. Husic told Sky News the Ali Khamenei image was not in the spirit of the event. 'I'm obviously here as a member of parliament, not the chair of the Australian chant regulator authority,' he said. 'There are, when you have so many people present, you won't agree with everyone, and clearly people will pick out some things that were objectionable to other people, and I completely understand that. 'That's democracy, but I just think, I would hate for it to detract from the images of that aerial view of the Harbour Bridge, with so many people on it, that just want the hostilities to end, and particularly impact on kids.' It comes as the foreign affairs minister Penny Wong said on Monday Australia would provide a further $20m in aid for organisations to deliver food and medical supplies into Gaza. The funding will be distributed through organisations including Unicef, the United Nations World Food Programme, and International Committee of the Red Cross. On Thursday, Wong met with Israel's ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, to express concern about Israel's conduct in Gaza and call for it to urgently comply with international law and increase the supply of food to Palestinians. Last week, Albanese said there was 'a humanitarian catastrophe' unfolding in Gaza and that too many innocent lives were being lost. The social services minister, Tanya Plibersek, said the march was driven by community anger at the suffering in Gaza. 'I think Australians do want to send a message that there has been too much death, too many people have lost their lives and we want to see the hostages return, we want to see humanitarian access to Gaza,' she said. 'We particularly don't want to see children starving to death as a result of this conflict.' The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, criticised the decision to march across the bridge, noting the disruption to Sydney's transport flows. 'I respect the right of free speech and protest, but this is taking it to another level ... the protest could happen elsewhere,' Ley said on Sunday.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
KFC Australia announces surprise new menu item NOBODY saw coming
KFC Australia has announced the launch of a new limited-edition menu item - and fans have dubbed it the 'perfect Aussie treat'. The popular Zinger fillet has now been reimagined as a kebab for the very first time. The Zinger Kebab combines the brand's signature spicy Zinger fillet with a selection of fresh, Middle Eastern-inspired ingredients. It will be available nationwide from Tuesday, 5 August until Monday, 8 September. The kebab features a Zinger fillet wrapped in warm flatbread, layered with crisp lettuce, a brand-new tabouli, creamy garlic sauce, and the brand's well-known Supercharged Sauce for an extra kick. The launch brings together two pillars of Australian fast food culture in an exciting new menu item. Sally Spriggs, KFC Australia's Group Marketing Director, told the Daily Mail that the product reflects the brand's continued focus on innovation and bold flavours. 'The Zinger Kebab balances the iconic Zinger kick with the vibrant freshness of premium ingredients, resulting in a flavour journey that's both bold and incredibly satisfying,' she said. The Zinger Kebab can be purchased individually, as part of a combo, or included in a box. Foodies will also be delighted to know the dish is available for delivery through the KFC App. The launch comes amid increasing consumer demand for portable, flavour-forward fast food options, and is expected to be popular with customers looking for a convenient alternative to traditional kebabs or burgers.
