Environmental Services protects Townsville's natural environments and spearheads Council's sustainability initiatives. Explore the hidden worlds of sustainability, Water, Energy, Biodiversity, Land Management and Recycling.

We live in a beautiful part of the world that is surrounded by amazing nature and environmental conservation areas including the Great Barrier Reef world heritage area, Pinnacles National Park, Magnetic Island, the Wet Tropics world heritage area including Paluma Range National Park, and Bowling Green Bay RAMSAR Wetland of international Importance.

The work that organisations, not-for-profits, businesses and governments put in to protecting, restoring, and enhancing these spaces is crucial for ensuring they flourish and that we continue to attract ecotourism to the region.

Council recognises climate change as a global issue and that we are in a state of climate emergency requiring urgent and sustained effort. We also recognise that responding to climate change is a shared responsibility. We need to work together to focus our efforts and change our behaviours to increase the resilience of our region.

We need to prepare for the likely impacts of a changing climate, whilst also reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. Governments have an important role in showing leadership and supporting community action.

The Sunshine Coast Council’s corporate vision for a region that is healthy, smart and creative, acknowledges that creativity broadens our perspective, helps us to explore ideas to find solutions and to build resilience.

The aspirational vision defines creative regions as those regions while not exclusively driven by the arts, are those that acknowledge the arts as integral to creative achievement - alongside science, research, education, design and invention.

In fact, a vibrant and diverse arts and cultural ecology is an important contribution to the liveliness and vitality of the places we call home. Arts and culture contribute directly to the “sense of place” which attracts both residents and investors. These attributes determine the attractiveness of a city or region as a place in which to work, live, invest and raise a family.

The Refinery is a creative incubator designed to transform ideas into sustainable businesses. A testing ground and training platform, The Refinery connects the dots between creativity and business, with access to mentors and a network of inspiring industry leaders sharing real time knowledge.

Participants get mentoring from leading industry professionals, provide support to each other via a digital platform and gain access to online learning modules which cover the fundamentals of turning an idea into impact.

The Sunshine Coast’s economy continues to evolve into a modern, ‘smart’ economy based on sound growth across numerous high valued and knowledge-based sectors including professional business services, innovative manufacturing and numerous high-tech start-ups.

The strength of the regional economy is based in its diversity and strength across a number of key sectors including healthcare, education, finance and professional business services.

The Sunshine Coast is home to industry disruptors like Youi, Huddle, Gourmet Garden, Country Chef, Ambrose Building, Auto & General, Get Wines Direct and Office HQ.
Businesses tap into an inspired workforce of more than 83,000 students across University of Sunshine Coast, two TAFE campuses and more than 150 registered training organisations

Businesses tap into an inspired workforce of more than 83,000 students across University of Sunshine Coast, two TAFE campuses and more than 150 registered training organisations.

The University of the Sunshine Coast is a public university based on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. After opening with 524 students in 1996 as the Sunshine Coast University College, it was later renamed the University of the Sunshine Coast in 1999.

The Sunshine Coast is home to industry disruptors like Youi, Huddle, Gourmet Garden, Country Chef, Ambrose Building, Auto & General, Get Wines Direct and Office HQ.

Agribusiness – focusing on niche food and beverage product and value-adding production – which has a strong foundation in the region and is a key part of the economic future of the hinterland communities. This sector will expand in response to burgeoning national and global demand a clean and safe food supply.

The Sunshine Coast University Hospital will provide leading-edge research facilities and professional services and provide an attractant for allied professional services to co-locate in the region. The facilities and services offered via SCUH and the broader Oceanside Kawana Health Precinct will enable the region to respond to both domestic and global demand for health and well-being services, particularly in the area of chronic disease prevention.

The specialist research capabilities of SCUH will further assist the region in establishing an international reputation and alliances and deliver careers and services not presently available.

Located on the Sunshine Coast, the Innovation Centre assists innovative and ambitious businesses at every stage across all industries. Typically, Innovation Centre members are looking to either launch a new venture or scale an existing venture in the mid to short term. Members join the Innovation Centre to access programs, training, mentoring and tailored advice aligned with their strategic needs.

The Sunshine Coast has all of the key ingredients required to support an innovative and thriving tech industry. These include game-changing infrastructure, a supportive business and investor community, local government committed to innovation, talent and education pathways. This, coupled with the region’s enviable lifestyle, is seeing the Sunshine Coast emerge as a future tech hub and offers myriad opportunities for the tech industry as well as tech-enabled business.

The newly formed Sunshine Coast Tech Industry Alliance (SCTechIA) will focus on priorities that build industry capacity; drive local tech jobs; encourage member collaboration to compete nationally and internationally, and provide a united voice for the tech industry in the region.

The Sunshine Coast is officially the ‘Most Loved Destination in the World’ according to the Tourism Index Sentiment, with travellers from across the globe following their hearts to our slice of Queensland paradise.

Our landscape is pretty special too and is as diverse as the experiences and people who call it home. Here you can be barefoot on the beach one minute and hiking the ancient peaks of the Glass House Mountains the next, sampling farm-fresh local produce and immersing yourself in verdant rainforest along the way.

We are nestled in nature and green at heart, with a commitment to living sustainably with nature.

Clean technologies – in which the region is gaining a national reputation and which will expand in response to forecast national and global demand for technologies and solutions that avoid, reduce or remediate environmental impacts.

The Queensland Government's Queensland Train Manufacturing Program will build 65 new six-car passenger trains at a purpose-built manufacturing facility at Torbanlea, in the Maryborough region.

The program will include a partnership with local schools to train students to be the next generation of the local engineering and manufacturing workforce.

More than 80% of the region’s population is located in the major centres of Bundaberg, Hervey Bay, Gympie, Maryborough and Kingaroy. The remaining residents live in predominantly rural shires.

On the coast, extreme inundation and erosion events could become more frequent with rising sea levels. Flooding, due to more intense storms, could affect water, sewerage, stormwater, transport and communications infrastructure. Inland, harsher fire weather and the impact of hotter days and extreme heat events will affect infrastructure.
Tourism is a significant industry in the region with a number of iconic ecosystems and the key tourism areas of Fraser Island, Hervey Bay and South Burnett.

The tourism industry is reliant on healthy reef and rainforest environments. The degradation of the reef will not only be a loss of great intrinsic value, it will also come at a great cost to the tourism industry.

Increased temperatures may lead to less water for agriculture, heat damage to horticultural crops and stress on livestock. Conditions may increase plant diseases, weeds and pests, and allow some pest species to move southwards into areas where they are currently excluded.

The Wide Bay Burnett region is one of the most diverse regions in Queensland, boasting outstanding natural assets and resources, agricultural land, and unique townships.

The region’s agriculture, renewable energy, manufacturing and tourism industries are key contributors to Queensland’s economy.

Traditional industries, including sugarcane and macadamia nut growing are the foundation of world class brands including Bundaberg Sugar, Bundaberg Rum, Bundaberg Ginger Beer and Suncoast Gold Macadamias.

The region also produces citrus, avocados, olives, potatoes, peanuts, beef, fresh fruit and vegetables, fish and seafood.

The Hinkler Innovation Initiative is a community-led initiative striving to foster and champion innovation throughout the Bundaberg Region. Inspired by the pioneering spirit and trailblazing legacy of Bert Hinkler, an innovator and explorer from the Bundaberg Region, this initiative is a platform to bring together global thought leaders and our local innovators to strengthen regional innovation.

The Wide Bay Burnett is rich in a variety of minerals and many mineral projects are ready for investment to take them to the next level. This Prospectus outlines those projects that should be seriously considered.

Identified resources include gold, coal, silver, silica sand, ilmenite, bauxite, copper, nickel, molybdenum, magnetite, kaolin, limestone, apatite, manganese, scandium, feldspar, siltstone, black granite and clay.

The Wide Bay area is a military training area and has been used intensively by artillery regiments and infantry battalions employing armoured vehicles. The Wide Bay Training Area supports 7th Brigade units to conduct combat team training.

The Wide Bay region is recognised as the Gateway to the Southern Great Barrier Reef and includes Bundaberg, Hervey Bay, Gympie, Fraser Island, Kingaroy and smaller regional centres. It is the most populated region outside of South-East Queensland.

This region is home to memorable tourism experiences and filled with innovators with ground-breaking ideas that are putting us on the world map.
In June 2019, ex-HMAS Tobruk was scuttled off the coast of Bundaberg and Hervey Bay. Since then, hundreds of people have dived the world-class dive site to view marine wildlife living on the wreck.

Lady Elliot Island has seen an increase in renewable energy infrastructure and it now has the capacity to run on 100% renewable energy. The island has over 653 solar panels and 232 batteries operational across the island.

Bundaberg Regional Council’s Waste Reduction and Recycling Plan that is linked to the Wide Bay-Burnett Regional Waste Management Plan, outlines a clear path forward on how to assist the Bundaberg community to move towards the Queensland Governments aspirational waste reduction and recycling targets of:

reducing the amount of waste generated by 15%
increasing the amount of materials recycled to 60%
increasing the amount of municipal solid waste diverted from landfill to 70%