The Queensland Government has developed the Energy from Waste Policy (PDF, 1 MB) (the Policy), which supports the implementation of the Waste Management and Resource Recovery Strategy as one of its action plans.

Energy from Waste (EfW) refers to converting waste materials into fuels, or energy in the form of electricity, heat, or cooling. The Policy does not incentivise or promote EfW, but will help to ensure that any EfW facilities developed in Queensland meet technical, environmental, regulatory and community expectations and are in the best interest of Queenslanders.

The Policy outlines a preference for industries that produce higher value commodities such as solid or liquid fuels from waste materials, over the production of electricity and heat, to align with the Queensland Government’s biofutures agenda.

It also outlines measures to ensure that EfW facilities do not preferentially source feedstock from recyclable material such as kerbside or source-separated clean stream channels and that only residual waste is used for energy recovery.

The Policy also contains requirements on proponents to demonstrate operational performance of proposed facilities; for community engagement, criteria for energy recovery efficiency and environmental protection standards.

Supporting guidelines

A Policy Guideline is being developed to provide detailed guidance on how to meet Policy requirements, along with Model Operating Conditions for some types of EfW facilities to illustrate the conditions that are likely to apply to an environmental authority for such facilities.

Development of the EfW policy

The Policy was developed through:

• consultation and input from a Technical Working Group comprised of representatives from the Local Government Association of Queensland, the Waste Recycling Industry Association of Queensland, the Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association of Australia, Boomerang Alliance, and the University of Southern Queensland.
• consultation with stakeholders from the waste management and resource recovery industry, the power generation and distribution sector, the environmental advocacy sector, the Australian Government, and state and local governments.
• public consultation on the Energy from Waste Policy Discussion Paper (PDF, 2 MB), the outcomes of which are detailed in a consultation report (PDF, 602 KB ).
• public consultation on the Transforming Queensland’s Recycling and Waste Industry Directions Paper (PDF, 2 MB), the outcomes of which are detailed in a consultation report (PDF, 127 KB ).
• public consultation on the draft Waste Management and Resource Recovery Strategy (PDF, 4 MB), the outcomes of which are detailed in a consultation report (PDF, 778 KB ).