What this document is
Brisbane’s material system as it actually operates, what Brisbane Landfill receives, what the levy does, and where the regional process stands.
- Brisbane Landfill receives around 250,000 tonnes a year; the Council services more than 900,000 bins.
- Recycling and the new citywide green bins divert well over 100,000 tonnes a year between them. The residual is what remains.
- The Queensland levy is A$125/t and legislated to A$165/t by 2029–30; the regional treatment route is eight to ten years from a facility.
Brisbane
Feedstock System Assessment
Brisbane has done the diversion work. What is left still goes to landfill, and the levy on it rises every year to 2029–30.
How the system works today
Brisbane City Council delivers what it describes as Australia’s largest residential waste service, servicing more than 900,000 bins across single-unit dwellings, multi-unit dwellings and public places. Collection is contracted; the Council runs disposal itself.
Residual goes to Brisbane Landfill at Rochedale, the Council’s engineered landfill, operating since 1993 and closed to the public, with commercial contractors delivering. Four Resource Recovery Centres — Nudgee, Willawong, Ferny Grove and Chandler — take residential and commercial drop-off 365 days a year. Landfill gas at Rochedale is captured and converted to electricity under contract.
Volumes and performance
| Measure | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Brisbane Landfill intake | ~250,000 t/yr | VERIFIED — Council, Aug 2025 |
| Kerbside recycling diverted, 2024–25 | ~65,000 t | VERIFIED |
| Green bin diversion expected | 65,000–80,000 t/yr | Council expectation |
| Green waste dropped at Resource Recovery Centres, 2024–25 | 79,000+ t | VERIFIED |
| Bins serviced | 900,000+ | VERIFIED |
| Population, Brisbane LGA | 1,375,301 (30 June 2025) | VERIFIED, preliminary |
| Queensland levy, Level 1 | A$125/t (2025–26) → A$165/t (2029–30) | VERIFIED |
One figure this assessment does not use. An older, undated Council fact sheet puts Brisbane’s total landfilled material at about 550,000 tonnes a year, roughly 70% of it to Brisbane Landfill — which would imply about 385,000 tonnes there, not 250,000. The two documents likely use different years or bases. We size against the 2025 figure, which is smaller and more recent, and nothing in this package depends on the older one.
The levy, on a legislated path
Queensland reintroduced its waste levy in 2019. The metropolitan rate for general material is A$125 a tonne in 2025–26, and the published schedule raises it A$10 every year: A$135, A$145, A$155, then A$165 in 2029–30.
Two cautions on reading that number. First, it is the levy alone, not the cost of landfilling a tonne, which also includes running the landfill. Second, the State has made payments to councils to offset the levy on household material, and this assessment does not assert what Brisbane’s current arrangement is.
Even so, the direction is not in doubt. The Council of Mayors (SEQ) states that landfill fees are estimated to almost triple over the next decade.
The regional process
On 15 April 2026 the Council of Mayors (SEQ) applied to the ACCC, on behalf of 11 south-east Queensland councils including Brisbane, for authorisation to procure regional solutions for residual treatment jointly. The material in scope is more than one million tonnes a year of household residual. The process is considering options that recover energy, including emerging fuels technologies, and the Council of Mayors estimates the earliest facility would be operating eight to ten years after approval.
Carbotura is not a participant in that process and is not arguing against it. Brisbane is one of the councils in it, and whether a bilateral agreement can sit alongside that participation is a question for the Council.
What we can state is what our own process does and does not do. Advanced Circular Manufacturing involves no combustion at any stage. There is no oxygen in the process, no stack and no ash. Carbotura does not sell power, electricity or hydrogen and is not an energy-from-waste operator. It is a manufacturing destination, and its lead time is 12 to 24 months from permit issuance.
Where Carbotura is today
Carbotura executed its first commercial Circular Supply Agreement with York County, Pennsylvania in January 2025: a signed 30-year agreement for a 400 TPD Standard Deployment — the same size as Brisbane’s Phase Initial.
That plant is in deployment now, with commercial operation targeted for late 2027 to early 2028. It will be operating before any decision is required in Brisbane, so this proposal can eventually be evaluated against a running plant rather than against a document.
What this means for a deployment
Brisbane presents a single, Council-held delivery point receiving about 250,000 tonnes a year, a levy on that tonnage rising on a legislated schedule, and a regional alternative that is the better part of a decade away.
A Phase Initial deployment of 400 TPD takes 146,000 tonnes a year, 58% of that intake, leaving room for recycling and green bins to keep reducing the stream. Phase Medium at 800 TPD covers all of it. Phase Initial is sized conservatively against the smaller, more recent figure, and no part of it depends on the older one.
Appendix A — Data status
VERIFIED: Brisbane Landfill intake (~250,000 t/yr); kerbside recycling diversion; green waste figures; bins serviced; population (preliminary); the levy schedule to 2029–30; the Council of Mayors (SEQ) ACCC application and its stated timeline.
CONFLICTING AND NOT USED: the older ~550,000 t/yr citywide landfilled figure. NOT ASSERTED: the State’s current levy offset arrangement for Brisbane; the Council’s landfill operating cost per tonne. ESTIMATED: composition, employment, site requirements. NOT IDENTIFIED: any candidate site.
Appendix B — Sources
- Brisbane City Council — Environment, Parks and Sustainability Committee, Overview of Waste and Resource Recovery Services, 19 August 2025
- Brisbane City Council — Brisbane Landfill pages and landfill fact sheet
- Queensland Government — waste levy rates
- Council of Mayors (SEQ) — media release, 15 April 2026; FAQ on collaborative action on landfill; SEQ Waste Management Plan (2021)
- Queensland Government Statistician’s Office — LGA population estimates