Single-use plastic bags will be banned in Queensland from July.

A container refund scheme and a plastic bag ban could cut Queensland's plastic litter by a staggering 50 per cent, a marine conservation group says.

State parliament has unanimously passed laws that will see single-use plastic bags outlawed from July next year.

Queensland will also have a new container refund scheme, with most beverage containers to attract a 10-cent refund to stop them ending up in waterways and the sea.

"An estimated 2.4 billion beverage containers and one billion lightweight plastic shopping bags are used in Queensland every year. These are ending up in our waterways and killing and maiming our native animals," Environment Minister Steven Miles told parliament on Tuesday night.

"This bill responds to overwhelming community demand."

He said the container refund scheme would create new jobs and offer charities and not-for-profit groups a new way to raise revenue.

The latest technology will be used to make it easy for people to turn rubbish into cash, with reverse vending machines to be rolled out, providing instant refunds.

The Australian Marine Conservation Society said Queensland was the most polluted state in Australia, with the Keep Australia Beautiful Litter Index putting the incidence of litter 41 per cent higher than the national average.

"Eleven items of plastic, on average, are found along every metre of beach from the Sunshine Coast to the Gold Coast," AMCS marine campaigner James Cordwell said.

"This new law has the potential to reduce Queensland's plastic litter by half."