About 22,207 tonnes of waste – the equivalent of about 10,500 Toyota Hilux utes – has been collected so far from residents since Brisbane was devastated by one of the city’s worst-ever floods.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said Council crews, contractors and Australian Defence Force personnel were working tirelessly to clear the vast amount of flood-damaged goods.

Cr Schrinner thanked the special kerbside collection crews as well as residents who were utilising free tipping and extended operating hours to take their material directly to one of Council’s four Resource Recovery Centres.

“This was the biggest rain event in Brisbane’s history and this is the biggest waste collection exercise in Brisbane’s history,” he said.

“While the 2011 flood peak in the Brisbane River might have been higher, the area of our city that has been impacted by this disaster is significantly greater.

“Our crews are removing an incredible amount of waste each day while residents are taking huge amounts directly to our tips.

“However, it’s going to take a number of weeks to completely remove the enormous amount of damaged goods and material that has been produced.”

Dubbed Operation Collect, the special flood edition of kerbside collection was working its way through an estimated 3000 streets spread across 120 of Brisbane’s 190 suburbs.

In comparison, the 2011 flood impacted an estimated 94 suburbs.

Operation Collect consists of more than 1000 Council workers, contractors and ADF personnel. The teams are using 700 pieces of equipment, including almost 400 trucks.

To speed up the operation, crews are utilising nine specially-convened satellite waste disposal sites which will revert back to their previous use once the job is complete.

Figures show 14,466 tonnes of material has been removed so far through the special kerbside collection.

Brisbane residents had completed more than 11,000 trips to Council’s Recovery Centres and dropped off 7741 tonnes since last Monday.

Residents also have access to 480 food waste only bins across 113 different sites, and these bins will remain in place and continually emptied for as long as required.

Cr Schrinner asked all residents to only put flood-damaged material on the kerbside.

“If people only put flood-damaged material on the kerbside then Brisbane’s streets will be cleaned up sooner,” he said.

“We’re asking people not to treat this like a regular kerbside collection because we want to prioritise flood victims and help them move on with their lives.

“Our regular kerbside collection services will return immediately after Operation Collect is completed while our Resource Recovery Centres remain open to everyone.”

Normal red top, green top and yellow top bin collection has resumed as normal.

Free flood-damaged waste tipping at Resource Recovery Centres operate at Willawong and Nudgee from 6:30am to 9pm and Ferny Grove and Chandler from 6:30am to 5:45pm.

 For more information, visit www.brisbane.qld.gov.au.