Bio-recycle has allegedly illegally increased waste capacity at its Swanbank site despite Ipswich City Council rejecting an application to increase the landfill height.

The matter was resolved in the Planning and Environment Court on Friday with council deciding not to pursue the alleged illegal dumping and both parties agreeing to allow the extra 1m height of landfill capacity at the dump at 30 Memorial Drive.

Ipswich City Council said not pursuing the matter further would save ratepayers a likely additional legal bill of between $250,000 and $500,000.

Bio-recycle had lodged an appeal to council’s decision to refuse an application to increase the height of its landfill by 5m.

During the course of the appeal it was discovered that the operator had already exceeded the original approved height by 1m.

Ipswich City Council’s General Manager of Planning and Regulatory Services Peter Tabulo said having identified the non-compliance, council officers considered ways of resolving both the compliance issue and the appeal as to the best outcomes for the community from an environmental and cost aspect.

“It is important to note that the landfill operations were complete, there