Food and garden waste

Cairns needs to reduce the amount of waste that gets sent to landfill, to sustain our community, our environment, and our economy.

The Australian and Queensland Governments have committed to halving food waste and the amount of organic waste going to landfill by 2030, resulting in the need for local governments to look at how we are managing waste into the future.

In response, Cairns Regional Council has launched the Resource Recovery 2040 (RR2040) project to investigate options for how to best manage our waste. Driven by emerging technologies, our commitment to our unique environment, Queensland Government policy drivers including the Queensland Organics Strategy 2022-2032, ambitious recovery and diversion targets, and a costly new waste levy, RR2040 addresses three key priorities:

• Recovering organic material from food and garden waste
• Increasing recycling rates
• Reducing waste to landfill

We are starting by looking at how we can better manage our household food and garden waste.

60% of general household waste in Cairns is food and garden waste.

Council is seeking feedback from the community on how people manage food and garden waste, and how it should be managed in the future.

START SURVEY