Toowoomba Regional Council Mayor, Geoff McDonald, has welcomed the Queensland Government’s decision to move the Toowoomba Region into the regional waste levy zone, claiming it as a major win for local households.
As part of the State Government’s reforms, Toowoomba Regional Council will transition to the regional waste levy zone from 1 July.
Mayor McDonald said the change better recognised the realities of providing waste services across a large regional footprint and would help ease future cost pressures for Toowoomba Region residents.
“This is great news for our community and a welcome acknowledgement that regional councils face different challenges when it comes to managing waste and resource recovery,” he said.
Council Waste Services portfolio spokesperson, Councillor Melissa Taylor said Council had consistently advocated for a more regionally aligned and appropriate approach to the waste levy and this announcement shows that work has made a difference.
“This is a win for every household in our Region,” she said.
“When families are already feeling the pressure of rising grocery bills, electricity costs and mortgage repayments, the last thing they need is higher waste charges. This decision helps ease that pressure.
“The move to the regional waste levy zone has the potential to save our community tens of millions over the next decade — money that would otherwise have added to the cost of delivering waste services and ultimately been borne by our residents.
“Our communities stretch across 13,000km². We are a regional council serving regional communities and our residents should be paying waste levy rates which reflect this.
“Councillors and Council officers have spent years advocating for this outcome because we knew it simply wasn’t fair that Toowoomba Region households were being treated the same as inner-city councils.
“A lot of this work happens behind the scenes, but this result shows that strong advocacy can deliver real outcomes for our community. It means less pressure on future waste charges and a better outcome for local families, retirees and businesses.
“This is about fairness. It recognises the realities of living in regional Queensland and delivers an opportunity for our Region to ready itself for future waste challenges with time now to invest in waste education and changes to waste operations to increase diversion and reduce waste to landfill.”
Mayor McDonald thanked Minister for the Environment and Tourism and Minister for Science and Innovation, Andrew Powell, for listening to Council’s concerns and acknowledged the contribution of Councillors and staff who had helped progress the advocacy effort.
“I would like to thank the Queensland Government for recognising that a one-size-fits-all approach does not work for every community and for taking a more regionally appropriate approach to waste reform,” he said.
