Police have begun sifting through 3,000 tonnes of waste in search of missing Toowong woman Lesley Trotter, who is believed to have been dumped in a bin outside her home last month.
Multiple police units have been joined by Australian Defence Force personnel at the Swanbank Renewable Energy and Waste Management Facility, west of Brisbane, to look for the body of the 78-year-old.
Ms Trotter was reported missing on March 28.
Last week police said she was known to sort through her neighbour's rubbish and they had "strong evidence" she was dead and her body could have been collected by a rubbish truck.
Detective Superintendent Andrew Massingham said the area police were tasked with searching was "quite enormous".
"There is sum of 3,000 tonne of general waste we have to sort through," he said.
"The waste will be exhumed from the ground, tipped into lanes approximately 30 centimetres deep, and police and ADF personnel will sift through by hand and using rakes … in an attempted to find Ms Trotter's body."
The search is expected to be a "lengthy process", with authorities anticipating crews will search through 200 tonnes of rubbish per day.
Investigators have been given a photographs of the clothing police believe Ms Trotter was wearing on the day she went missing to help with what was described as "a hand-and-eye" type search.
"We've been able to use certain technologies to pinpoint an area that we believe is most likely to yield Ms Trotter's body," Detective Superintendent Massingham said.
"We have had to kit out crews with significant PPE to enable this task to be undertaken not only successfully but quite safely."
"Air monitoring with be a crucial part of that workplace health and safety environment moving forward."
