Ipswich City Council has approved an interim contractor to resume recycling collections but Mayor Andrew Antoniolli can't guarantee the waste crisis is over.
Visy, which handles Brisbane's recycling, will be offered a 12-month contract, Mr Antoniolli announced at a special council meeting on Tuesday.
The council last month said it would be forced to dump recycling services due to a $2 million price increase by contractors following China's ban on importing recyclables.
Mr Antoniolli has revealed the cost of the new contract is similar, meaning residents are staring down a rates rise, and possible cost reduction would depend on cutting the city's contamination rate by 50 per cent.
"The costs are very similar ... but this contract has some incentives in it for us to try reduce those costs at a later time," he told reporters.
"The public have made it quite clear they want recycling to continue, so we have to absorb the costs and try and lessen the load on the ratepayer."
Mr Antoniolli is planning an education campaign to drive down contamination rates, which were at a staggering 52 per cent, compared to just 15 per cent a few years ago.
The council has also discussed bin tagging, which would result in residents who repeatedly contaminate having their recycling bins removed.
"Five weeks ago, our contamination levels were well in excess of what the contractor was willing to accept and he did not want to continue with the contract," the mayor said.
"We would hope within three months we would have a consistent, good level of contamination.
"Everyone would concede there still are going to be a percentage of people out there who, regardless of our efforts, are probably not going to want to comply.
"We do need to take action in relation to that and if that means taking away their service, so be it."
Mr Antoniolli said the council was also looking at excluding glass from recycling.
"Maybe we look at collecting glass in a different manner. But certainly, at this point in time, glass is a cost to recycling," he said.
No time-frame for recycling resumption has been decided.
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