CARBOTURACommunity Benefits · Brisbane City Council, Queensland
Brisbane City Council, Queensland · For Every Resident
Your City. Your Neighbourhood. Better.
Brisbane recycles and now collects green waste citywide. Here is what could happen to what is left in the red-lid bin — without burning it and without burying it.
No sorting. No separation. One collection. Everything converted.
Community Benefits · 5 min read · DOC 06 OF 06
What this document is
A plain-language explainer for Brisbane residents: what changes, what does not, and what is actually being proposed.
Three things this document says
Nothing changes at your kerb. Red, yellow and green bins carry on exactly as they do now.
Nothing is burned. There is no stack and no ash — the process runs without oxygen, so nothing can combust.
A royalty comes back to the Council on every tonne, for at least thirty years.
Here is what Advanced Circular Manufacturing does, in plain terms.
♻
Your bins do not change
Red, yellow and green bins go out the same way they do today. This is about what is left in the red-lid bin after recycling and green waste — the part that currently goes to landfill.
No change at the kerb
🔥
Nothing is burned
The process runs in a sealed chamber with no oxygen in it. Without oxygen nothing can combust. There is no stack, no smoke and no ash. This is not an incinerator and it is not energy from waste.
No combustion
🏭
It becomes products
Material is resolved into its elemental constituents and manufactured into synthetic graphite, graphene compounds, recovered metals and minerals, and ultrapure water — over 100 specification-grade materials.
100+ materials
💰
A royalty comes back
Carbotura pays the Council a royalty on every tonne delivered, for at least thirty years, starting above what the Council pays to have the material processed and rising every year.
30-year minimum
🛠
Local manufacturing jobs
Around 100 direct roles at the first phase and about 300 more indirectly, rising with the second phase — process operation, maintenance, quality and logistics.
~100 direct roles
⏱
Faster than the alternatives
A plant like this can be operating 12 to 24 months after its permit is issued. The regional treatment process expects its first facility eight to ten years after approval.
12–24 months
Today vs. With the Factory
What Changes — Side by Side
🔴 Today
✗What you recycle is recycled, and green waste now has its own bin.
✗What is left in the red-lid bin goes to Brisbane Landfill at Rochedale.
✗About 250,000 tonnes a year go there.
✗Every landfilled tonne carries a State levy that rises each year.
✗A regional alternative is being planned, about a decade away.
🟢 With the Factory
✓What you recycle is recycled. Nothing changes at your kerb.
✓What is left goes to a factory instead of a landfill.
✓It is broken down without burning and manufactured into products.
✓There is no ash, because there is no combustion to produce any.
✓The Council pays a fee to have it processed and receives a royalty on every tonne.
How the Money Works
The Circular Royalty™ — Explained Simply
This is not a subsidy. It is not a discount. Here is how Brisbane City Council, Queensland earns money back from the materials it supplies.
Your materials are collected
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The factory converts them into manufactured products
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Products are sold in global markets
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Royalty paid back to Brisbane City Council, Queensland
What the Circular Royalty™ is — in plain terms
The Council pays a Beneficiation Fee to have its material processed, and separately receives a Circular Royalty™ on the same tonnage. Two different payments in two different directions, reported separately rather than combined into one number. The fee is between A$142 and A$213 a tonne. For comparison, the State levy alone on a landfilled tonne is A$125 today, so today the fee is higher; the levy rises A$10 every year, passes the lowest fee in 2028–29 and reaches A$165 by 2029–30. We compare only with the levy because the full cost of running the landfill is not published. The royalty starts at A$170 to A$256 a tonne and rises every year for at least thirty years, and the Council spends no capital and carries no permitting risk.
Your Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
No. There is no combustion at any stage, no stack, and no ash. The process runs in a sealed, oxygen-free chamber — without oxygen, nothing can burn. It is a manufacturing operation, and it is not energy from waste. Carbotura does not sell power, electricity or hydrogen.
Brisbane is one of 11 councils in a regional process seeking a long-term treatment solution, which its organisers expect to take eight to ten years to deliver a facility. Carbotura is not part of that process and is not arguing against it. How a separate agreement would sit beside it is the Council’s decision.
No site has been chosen. No parcel has been identified or assessed. Some industrial areas the City Plan already sets aside for heavier industry are worth examining, and any choice would be worked through jointly and in public with the community that might host it.
No. Carbotura finances, owns and operates the facility, and carries all the permitting work at its own cost. The Council commits no capital at any phase.
Not yet, and we say so plainly. Carbotura has no facility in commercial operation anywhere. The first is in Pennsylvania, in the United States, in deployment now and targeted for late 2027 to early 2028. The agreement with any council includes a condition requiring an operating facility that meets our stated claims before that council is held to performance.
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Indicative reference only — not an offer. Pricing under a Circular Supply Agreement (CSA) or CMOA. All financial figures are Carbotura planning-basis estimates and are ILLUSTRATIVE until Term Sheet execution. Fee and royalty figures are converted from Carbotura’s US-dollar programme ranges at the RBA rate of 30 October 2026 (A$1 = US$0.7040) and will move with the exchange rate until fixed at Term Sheet. Carbotura has no facility at or past Commercial Operation Date.
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Candidate siting area — provisional, subject to Term Sheet phase verification.