Electric ants have been found in several suburbs in Cairns, as well as Kuranda, west of the city, and Bingil Bay, near Mission Beach, to the south.

Biosecurity Queensland electric ant coordinator Corey Bell says officers have to treat piles of green waste before it can be removed from homes.

"Electric ants cause significant environmental, economic and social damage because they're so tiny," he said.

"They're easy to spread because sometimes they can be spread in garden waste and in pot plants.

"Council is taking all the green waste from the restricted areas to a single location and separating those piles so that it's going to one location, and we can treat that location in case electric ants are transported still."

Biosecurity Queensland con-firmed mid-May 2006 the presence of an exotic ant species in Smithfield, a northern Cairns suburb.

The infestation was observed in bedding sand under paving stones around a domestic pool, and under pot plants in the same area.

Residents in the area had experienced numerous painful stings and one alert community member made contact with Biosecurity Queensland as he suspected the ant was not native.

Diagnostic confirmation was provided by entomologists at the Fire Ant Control Centre that the unfamiliar pests were electric ants.

Subsequent surveys of the neighbourhood confirmed detections on 108 properties in close proximity to the original site.

A number of properties are within a forested area, which runs west to the Kuranda National Park.

This proximity to the national park makes containment and control even more important.