K'gari (Fraser Island) Waste Management Strategy

Co-mingled recycling will be introduced on K’gari (Fraser Island) and the Eurong Waste Transfer Station will be supervised at set times under a new Fraser Coast Regional Council waste management contract.

At its meeting today, Council resolved to accept the tender from local company, the Reuse and Recycle Group, to deliver waste management and resource recovery services on K’gari for $1.5 million a year over the next 10 years.

Cr Jan Hegge said Council had recently developed a long-term strategy aimed at improving waste management and recycling services while also protecting and conserving the world heritage and cultural values of the island.

“Providing waste services on K’gari can be quite challenging and is a shared responsibility, with Council co-ordinating services for residents while Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service looks after services for the thousands of tourists who flock to the island each year,” she said.

“Council manages waste facilities at Eurong, Happy Valley and Orchid Beach, which are accessible 24 hours a day seven days a week. The sites are fenced to minimise the spread of rubbish and prevent dingoes from getting in.

“The sites are regularly serviced with waste transported back to the mainland for processing and disposal.

“The new contract will include site supervision at the Eurong Waste Transfer Station, allowing for a wider range of waste to be accepted, such as oil, batteries and gas bottles. This type of waste has been difficult to manage on the island and is often incorrectly disposed of at Council facilities.

“Introducing co-mingled recycling, which essentially means putting material like paper, cardboard, glass, plastic and metal in the same recycling bin, could divert up to 38 per cent of the waste generated on K’gari that is currently going to landfill.

“Council is committed to reducing the amount of waste going to landfill and managing our activities in a way that reduces our environmental footprint, and that’s what we will achieve with this new waste management contract for K’gari.”

A copy of the K’gari (Fraser Island) Waste Management and Resource Recovery Strategy 2023 – 2029 is available under ‘Strategies’ at https://www.frasercoast.qld.gov.au/publications

The Orchid Beach Waste Transfer Station will soon only accept bulky household waste and steel items during scheduled quarterly fortnightly periods.

The collections will occur during the first two weeks of January, April, July and October each year.

The first collection period will begin in January 2024.

Outside of the schedule collection times Orchid Beach residents are encouraged to take their bulk waste and/or steel to Eurong Waste Transfer Station or a mainland facility.

These periods have been set in consultation with the Orchid Beach Community Association and key stakeholders.

All other waste services remain the same, with free disposal of general household / domestic waste and clean green waste at all times.

Please refer to the Waste Disposal Information sheet attached for a full list of accepted and not accepted wastes. (Info sheet is attached both as a jpg so you can read here, and as a PDF in the Docuemnt Library so you can download for later.)

These changes are part of the implementation of the K’gari Waste Management and Resource Recovery Strategy adopted in July 2022.

More details about the strategy can be found on our Engagement hub here: https://frasercoast.engagementhub.com.au/kgari-waste-strategy

The Happy Valley Waste Transfer Station will soon only accept bulky household waste and steel items during scheduled quarterly fortnightly periods.

The collections will occur during the first two weeks of February, May, August, and November each year. The first collection period will begin in August 2023. Outside of the schedule collection times Happy Valley Residents are encouraged to take their bulk waste and/or steel to Eurong Waste Transfer Station or a mainland facility.

These periods have been set in consultation with the Happy Valley Community Association and key stakeholders.

All other waste services remain the same, with free disposal of general household / domestic waste and clean green waste at all times.

Please refer to the "waste disposal information sheet" in the Document Library for a full list of accepted and not accepted wastes.

These changes are part of the implementation of the K’gari Waste Management and Resource Recovery Strategy adopted in July 2022.

More details about the strategy can be found on this project page website here.

A community forum was held at Orchid Beach on 03 November 2022 to discuss possible bin compound locations to the community. There was strong community consensus that these locations were not suitable.

The strong and persistent sentiment that Council has received from community members, the Butchulla community as Traditional Custodians, and other key stakeholders, is that the most suitable future location for waste management services at Orchid Beach is at the current location. This is in recognition of the site's historical use.

This view was again shared at Council’s Ordinary meeting in November where Council resolved to write to the Minister of Environment and Great Barrier Reef to seek the Queensland Governments support to formalise the required tenure for waste management and recycling services to continue at the current Orchid Beach transfer station.

The letter was sent on the 15 December 2022.

Eurong Waste Transfer Station Site Remediations Works

Remediation works are scheduled to be completed at Eurong Waste Transfer Station as part of the first stage of delivery of the K’gari (Fraser Island) Waste Management and Recovery Strategy. The works are anticipated to start on 7 November and be completed by 12 December.

During this period, several waste streams will not be able to be disposed of at the site, including bulk waste, steel and green waste.

General waste will still be permitted to be disposed of, in a bin compound area of bulk bins specifically allocated for general waste.

Waste streams of bulk waste, steel and green waste should be retained until the site re-opens or may be disposed of at Council’s mainland waste facilities or the Happy Valley Waste Transfer Station.

Enquiries may be directed to Fraser Coast Waste on 1300 79 49 29 or enquiry@frasercoast.qld.gov.au.

This project received funding from the Australia Government through the Australian Heritage Grants Program.

At its meeting on Wednesday 27 July 2022, Council adopted the K’gari (Fraser Island) Waste Management and Resource Recovery Strategy 2023-2029.

“The strategy aims to protect and conserve the world-heritage and cultural values of the island as well as guide the allocation of funds and the timing of projects to improve waste management and resource recovery on the island,” Cr Darren Everard said.

“Key actions include upgrading the Eurong Waste Transfer Station (WTS) to mitigate risk associated with legacy waste practices and increasing resource recovery opportunities for a wider range of waste streams including the introduction of co-mingle recycling bins.

“Eventually the current facilities at Happy Valley and Orchid Beach will be replaced with bin compounds."

The strategy was developed in partnership with key stakeholders including the Department of Environment and Science, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Services, the Butchulla community, island residents, tourism operators and visitors.

Information on the community engagement activities and findings can be found https://frasercoast.engagementhub.com.au/kgari-waste-strategy

“Waste services on the island are a shared responsibility,” Cr Everard said.

“Services for residents in the villages are co-ordinated by Council while Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service looks after services for the thousands of tourists who flock to the island each year.”

You can view the Strategy on the Policies and Publications page of Council’s website www.frasercoast.qld.gov.au/publications.

This project received grant funding from the Australian Government under the Australian Heritage Grants Program.

In a workshop dedicated to the Butchulla community, the traditional custodians of K’gari (Fraser Island), the Fraser Coast Waste Management team hosted a one-day forum to discuss the various waste management options, learning about some of the intricacies of the lore on the island and ways to put “the land first”.

Eleven representatives from the Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation (BAC) and the Butchulla Native Title Aboriginal Corporation (BNTAC), as Registered Native Title Body Corporates (RNTBC’s) for the area, attended the workshop, along with representatives from the Fraser Coast Regional Council Waste management team, the Council’s Engagement team and facilitator Johnny Briggs.

Discussion was open, honest and at times robust, and Council thanks the workshop participants for their generous input and sharing of knowledge.

The engagement period will be finalised with an on-line community forum for residents and ratepayers and people who work on the island (reschedule to be confirmed).

The community forum scheduled for Saturday 26 February at Eurong on K’gari (Fraser Island) to discuss the waste management strategy for the island has been cancelled.

Council has been monitoring the weather over the past 48 hours. On Friday morning the decision was made to cancel the forum due to the deteriorating conditions and possibility of flood.

If you have registered for the forum, please re-register for the online event on Wednesday 2 March from 5:45pm to 8:00pm HERE:

Or, if you prefer, you may attend in person at the Council Chambers at the same time as the scheduled online event (5:45pm for a 6:00pm start to 8:00pm). Please advise Council by email to communitydevelopment&engagement@frasercoast.qld.gov.au if you would like to attend this event in person.

Thank you for your understanding.

Kind regards

The K’gari (Fraser Island) Waste Management and Resource Recovery Project Team

The report from our engagmeent period, which also includes community forums and meeting with our reference group and the Butchulla people, will be presented to the Wide Bay Water and Waste Recovery team by end of March 2022 for consideration as part of the development of the strategy.

The strategy is expected to be drafted and presented to the Wide Bay Water Advisory Council and the Fraser Coast Regional Council by August 2022.

Registrations for the in-person communty forum on Saturday 26 February can be found here, and for the vitrural forum on Wednesday 2 M<arch can be found here. Please note, there are requirements to attend either meeting (you must be a resident, ratepayer or repesentative of either), and there are additional requirements to attend the in-person event (Covid-19 safe requirements). Please see the ticket information for more details,. These events are free.

Fraser Coast Regional Council is developing a Waste Management and Resource Recovery Strategy for K'gari (Fraser Island), which aspires to protect and conserve the world-heritage and cultural values of the island, through sustainable waste practices.

The Strategy will be developed in partnership with key stakeholders such as the Butchulla elders and island tourism operators to ensure a holistic and co-ordinated approach is taken.

“The strategy will guide the allocation of funds and the timing of projects to improve waste management and resource recovery from the island. It’s about providing clear direction to ensure waste is managed to minimise environmental impact, and to protect the island,” Councillor David Lee said.

“The island is a major tourism and recreation hotspot and we don’t want it smothered under a layer of rubbish.

“Waste services for the residents in the villages are co-ordinated by Council while the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service looks after services for the thousands of tourists who flock to the island each year.

“The new strategy aspires to achieve a fit for purpose waste and resource recovery service that will improve on current practices and align with both Butchulla lore (what is good for the land comes first) and the Fraser Coast Waste Strategy 2019-2029.”

This project received grant funding from the Australian Government under the Australian Heritage Grants Program 2020-21.

A consultation group, which includes representatives from the Butchulla people, residents, the tourism industry, groups providing services, operations, or maintenance of the island has been formed and met for the first time on Monday 13 December.

It is anticipated that the final strategy will be presented to Council for adoption in August 2022.

Photo: the consultation group as they met on Monday 13 December (some by Teams Meeting).