Waste management is a core business for councils, and late last year, a question to Council’s top brass revealed much around how our local waste is managed.
At Council’s planning meeting on 13 November 2025, former mayor, Jan Barham, asked the following questions: ‘Could advice be provided about how waste is managed in Byron Shire? ‘Where does it go? How much is collected? How much is recycled? How much is attributed to visitors as opposed to residents? And how much does it cost as Byron Shire Council has the highest waste charges in the region?’
In summary, staff replied that after the three yellow, green and red bins are collected and delivered to the Byron Resource Recovery Centre (BBRC) in Myocum, they are then trucked out of the Shire to different facilities.
Landfill waste (the red bin), for example, goes to a facility in South-East Qld.
According to staff’s reply, 5,969 tonnes from red bins were disposed of at the Ti tree Bioenergy, Willowbank in the 2024-25 financial year.
In the same year, nearly the same amount of organics (6,026 tonnes) was collected and driven to Phoenix Recyclers in Yatala.
And staff say that comingled yellow bin recycling (4,521 tonnes) headed to a facility in Chinderah.
Qld waste targets
Yet according to a 2 February ABC report, Qld is generating waste at a faster rate than its population growth, with hundreds of thousands of extra tonnes of rubbish added in the past year as the state government vows to boost recycling. To address this, the Qld government said it was ‘already working with local councils and industry to boost recycling’.
The Echo asked Council staff, ‘Given our waste goes to Qld, and the Qld government says that their own waste targets are not being met, has Council got a contingency, or is it working on one for waste?’
‘What plans are there to manage waste in Byron in the coming years?
‘Plans for a bio-energy facility seem to have stalled, as has Council’s solar farm plans near the Myocum tip.
‘How far away is the BRRC from hitting capacity?’
A Council spokesperson told The Echo they have contracts in place with its current transport and disposal of residual waste contractor until at minimum 2030, ‘with an optional three years to 2033 in South-East Qld’.
Regional solution
‘We are working collaboratively with other Northern Rivers councils on a regional waste management solution, under the Northern Rivers Joint Organisation Residual Waste Steering Committee, to address a Northern Rivers- focused solution to deal with both residual waste and other materials streams.
‘The BRRC is a transfer station, and there has been no active landfilling there since 2013.
‘Therefore, as materials come in, are sorted and then go out for further processing and recovery, it is not nearing capacity.
‘It should be noted that Council offers residents two $50 waste disposal vouchers per annum for bulky waste at the BRRC, while others do not and therefore the fee structure may differ.
‘Council also allows materials in good condition that can be resold via the Re-Market (tip shop) to go there directly, at no charge.
‘This encourages source separation and recovery of materials and saves residents disposal costs’, the Council spokesperson added.
While Byron and Ballina councils do not accept asbestos waste, Lismore City Council does. Tweed Shire Council only accepts asbestos from Tweed Shire residents.
Waste management by other councils
A Lismore City Council spokesperson told The Echo they expect to be returning to processing their hard rubbish in Lismore by the end of March, after restoring their facilities following the 2022 floods.
Yellow bin recycling is transported to the Re.Group Materials Recovery Facility at Chinderah, say staff.
‘Food and garden organics (green bin) waste is currently transported to Qld through a contractor where it is processed into compost products. Council explored options for local processing facilities; however, existing organics facilities in the region are currently unable to accept additional volumes’.
According to Ballina Council’s website, ‘Everything put in the red lid landfill bin is transported to the Ti Tree Bioenergy waste disposal facility, located in Willowbank, Qld’.
According to Tweed Shire Council’s website, landfill waste is sent to the Stotts Creek Resource Recovery Centre located on Leddays Creek Road, in the small Tweed Shire town of Eviron.
‘Organic household organic waste (green bin) is processed into compost at the on-site Tweed Organics Processing Facility, operated by Soilco’, the website says.
‘Mixed recycling (yellow bin) is processed at a separate facility in Chinderah and does not go to the landfill’.
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