Specialist Waste Disposal

Contact us for advice on disposing these items at a landfill or transfer station.

• Regulated waste (including Asbestos) and liquid waste
• Abrasive blasting materials
• Waste as a result of fire (incineration)
• Soils from land rehabilitation and remediation
• Household or industrial chemicals
• Medical waste
• Paper sludge
• Chemically impregnated timber
• Carpet
• Quantities of fire/smoke detectors (above 10 units)
• Paints and Varnishes - These items cannot be disposed of at Council’s Waste Facilities but they can be taken to the Paintback facility at the Rockhampton Regional Council Landfill site at Lakes Creek Road, Rockhampton. Visit paintback.com.au to see the full range of acceptable and unacceptable products for disposal.
• Fire extinguishers which have a white band around them or are all red (meaning a water fire extinguisher) can be dropped off for free at the Yeppoon Landfill. We do not take the blue banded or yellow fire extinguishers, these need to go back to where they were purchased from.
• LPG Gas bottles only, 9.0kg or less in size can be dropped off at the Yeppoon Landfill or a Transfer Station. All other gas bottles need to be returned to where they were purchased from.

It is the responsibility of all property owners to get asbestos to an approved place of disposal.

Under no circumstances should people leave asbestos on footpaths or roadsides.

Asbestos can only be disposed of at Yeppoon Landfill.

Asbestos is a regulated waste and cannot be disposed of in rubbish bins, recycling bins or at Council’s transfer stations. Not all landfills can accept asbestos waste. Download fact sheet removal and transport of asbestos containg material (Domestic)(PDF, 320KB) or fact sheet removal and transport of asbestos containing material (Commercial)(PDF, 726KB) for more information on the correct disposal of asbestos.

Used electronics contain valuable non-renewable resources like plastic and precious metals, including gold, silver, platinum, nickel, zinc, aluminium, and copper. Some of these, like lead, mercury, phosphorus, and cadmium, can harm the environment if sent to landfill. They can leak into groundwater, pollute the soil, and enter the food chain. When electronics are thrown away, the valuable materials used to make them are lost, which means new products need to be made by mining for these resources.

eWaste includes items like:

• TVs
• Computers
• Printers
• Stereos
• VCRs
• Projectors
• Gaming consoles
• Scanners
• Set-top boxes

Almost 99% of a computer can be recycled. The metal is 100% recyclable, glass is 99%, and plastic (except for tiny particles) is 100% recyclable. Older TVs with cathode ray tubes contain up to 4 kg of lead and other harmful materials that need to be responsibly recycled. Data security is also an important factor when recycling electronics. People are encouraged to delete personal data from devices before recycling

Over 90% of the materials in a mobile phone can be recycled, yet around 22 million unused phones are stored in homes across Australia. Recycling these phones could save the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions as planting 114,000 trees and recover enough aluminium to make 1.8 million cans.

Did you know?

• Australia generates about 200,000 tonnes of e-waste every year, with almost 1 million discarded devices being added to landfills annually
• According to reports, only about 17% of e-waste in Australia is currently being recycled, leaving a significant portion to end up in landfills
• Proper recycling can also create jobs in the recycling industry, contributing to Australia's green economy
• There are at least 30 million mobile phone subscribers in Australia.
• Over 23 million unused phones are tucked away in drawers, cupboards, and garages across the country, about one for every person in Australia.
• This is equivalent to 2,450 tonnes of valuable materials like metals, minerals, plastic, and glass, which the planet needs us to recycle.
• The average person replaces their mobile phone every 18-24 months.
• Mobile phones should never be thrown away since they are not biodegradable and can contain harmful materials.
• Recycling 50,000 old phones can reduce the need to mine 110 tonnes of gold ore, 123 tonnes of silver ore, or 11 tonnes of copper ore.
• Over 90% of a phone’s materials can be recovered and repurposed for new products, like plastic fence posts or stainless-steel items.

For further information on where to recycle your old mobile phones please head to the Mobile Muster website.

Greenwaste loads are accepted at the following waste facilities:

• Cawarral
• Emu Park
• Marlborough
• The Caves
• Yeppoon

Domestic Loads of Greenwaste brought into Council Waste Facilities

Green Waste and clean timber are mulched at the Yeppoon Landfill and Emu Park Waste Facilities. The green waste and timber from other waste facilities are transported back to the Yeppoon Landfill for mulching. The mulch is used beneficially in on-site operations (such as erosion control).

Commencing as of 1 September 2021, all domestic self-haul green waste loads will be charged a transaction fee. This will offset some of the costs of maintaining and mulching all green waste at Waste Facilities throughout our Shire. These costs are in the vicinity of $400,000.00 per year which is for the processing of greenwaste disposed of at the Yeppoon Landfill and Waste Transfer Stations by our residents. The processing includes pushing the stockpiles of greenwaste, grinding of the greenwaste into mulch and managing of mulch so it doesn’t catch on fire.

Council has introduced a “User Pays” system rather than increasing the rates for all of the residents in our Shire, so that the cost is fairly distributed to those who use this service.

Residents who are concerned about the fee are encouraged to plant native species in their yards which require less maintenance (hence less greenwaste to be disposed of) and supports the local fauna in our community.

• Alternatively residents are able to use 1 Voucher to dispose of greenwaste.
• Consider using a compost bin in your yard.

Commercial Greenwaste Charges

All Commercial Operators will be charged to dispose greenwaste. A full list of the applicable Fees and Charges can be viewed here.

Commercial Operators include:

• Lawn Mowing / Yard Maintenance Contractors
• Garden Tidy Bag Contractors
• Tree Loppers
• All other Commercial Operators

Supply and Loading of Mulch

Council mulch is produced as Standard mulch and is processed once.

There are no fees for mulch. Customers may self-load mulch at Emu Park and The Caves Transfer Stations. At Yeppoon Landfill, mulch may be loaded by Council machinery at any time, subject to the availability of the loader and at the discretion of site staff.

Alternatively, Council offers free mulch loading during the times listed below, when dedicated machinery is available on site to load customers.

Free Loading Schedule:

• Emu Park
  1st Tuesday, 2.30pm – 5.00pm and
  2nd Saturday of each month, 1.00pm – 4.00pm
• Yeppoon
  1st Tuesday and 2nd Saturday of each month, 8.00am – 11.00am

All vehicles will be loaded to the legal limit - please do not request overloading.

All loads are to be tarped - no exceptions.

A large amount of solar panels have been received at Yeppoon Landfill in previous years. The State Government introduced solar rebates back in 2008 and the life span of many panels are now coming to an end.

Due to the increase of the amount of solar panels being disposed of, Council has introduced a fee to cover the costs of transport to South Australia which is currently the only plant recycling these items in Australia.

The recycling plant reuses the frames and recycles the glass, depending on what happens to be wrong with the panels disposed.