Queensland's Department of Environment is currently consulting on a Draft End of Waste Code (EOWC010004246) that would legally reclassify incinerator ash as a 'resource' rather than waste. Consultation closes at 5pm on Monday 31 August 2026.
The consultation page can be found here, and the draft end of waste code can be found here.
What the ash contains and what this code would permit spreading on Queensland roads and in construction works:
For unbound applications (road base, sub-base, engineered fill), the ash could be used within 50 metres of surface water and 20 metres of farm dams used for stock water. Buffer to drinking water bores is 250m.
What we need to do right now
Email a submission to the consultation before 5pm, 31 August 2026.
Email: RRS.Consultation@detsi.qld.gov.au
Summarise key arguments for your submission:
Please ensure your submission is valid.
These will open as google docs, which you can either download or copy and paste the content where you need it.
This is infrastructure for the incinerator industry. Without operating incinerators, there is no ash to reclassify. The draft code effectively pre-builds the regulatory pathway that makes incineration financially viable by giving operators a legal route to sell or use their toxic ash byproduct.
What the ash contains and what this code would permit spreading on Queensland roads and in construction works:
- Heavy metals: arsenic, lead, mercury, cadmium, nickel, zinc
- PFAS (forever chemicals)
- PCBs and PAHs (carcinogenic compounds)
- For 'bound applications' (e.g. non-structural concrete), many contaminants are listed as 'NS' - not specified - meaning no upper limit applies.
For unbound applications (road base, sub-base, engineered fill), the ash could be used within 50 metres of surface water and 20 metres of farm dams used for stock water. Buffer to drinking water bores is 250m.
What we need to do right now
Email a submission to the consultation before 5pm, 31 August 2026.
Email: RRS.Consultation@detsi.qld.gov.au
Summarise key arguments for your submission:
- The code presupposes operating incinerators exist, approving this code normalises incineration before community consent on the Bromelton facility
- 'Not specified' contaminant limits for bound applications is inadequate given the known toxicity of IBAA
- Buffer zones are insufficient for agricultural communities like the Scenic Rim
- No specific protections for koala habitat, waterways, or high conservation value land
- PFAS limits only apply 'if feedstocks are reasonably likely to contain PFAS' a loophole given mixed municipal waste streams
Please ensure your submission is valid.
Please include your name and address.
Business Queensland has specifically asked that submissions use these headings:
Section/page reference | Summary of issue | Comments
Section/page reference | Summary of issue | Comments
You may want to draft your own submission, or base it on one of ours. It is always best to personalise your submission, to enable them to be counted as individual separate responses.
These will open as google docs, which you can either download or copy and paste the content where you need it.
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