General News
26 September, 2020
Grant helps recycling costs
Tablelands Regional Council (TRC) will now be able to reduce the cost of transporting cardboard and plastics to the recycling facility in Brisbane due to a recently received grant.
Tablelands Regional Council (TRC) will now be able to reduce the cost of transporting cardboard and plastics to the recycling facility in Brisbane due to a recently received grant.
The $46,000 grant is provided by the Department of Environment and Science under the Regional Recycling Transport Assistance Package.
This money will be used by TRC to fully cover the recycling transport cost for 12 months.
TRC Deputy Mayor Kevin Cardew is appreciative of this new grant and seeing less and less cardboards and plastics going to landfill.
“The recycling plant in Brisbane is our closest facility and transporting our recycling by truck is quite expensive,” he said.
“We have a strong commitment to the diversion of waste from landfill so we normally have to foot the transport costs.
“Long term we would really like to see processing plants in Far North Queensland.”
With the money provided by the new grant TRC is hoping to transport over 500t of cardboard and plastic in the 12 months.
“In the last two weeks we sent a total of 164 bales of cardboard to Brisbane,” Cr Cardew said.
“In the last quarter of the financial year, we sent a total of more than 54t’s of plastics south.”
The Minister for Environment Leeanne Enoch said there are unique challenges to recycling and re-using waste in regional communities.
“This funding is another way to support regional councils, businesses and charities with the cost of transferring recyclables and creating jobs,” she said.
“There are three times as many jobs in recycling as there are in landfill, so every initiative that helps to increase recycling is supporting more employment.
“It will also encourage and provide support for councils in regional Queensland to divert more resources from landfill and recycle more.
“This is a win for regional Queenslanders who can be part of the state’s war on waste and help to create long-term sustainable jobs.”
