Landfill Levy

Landfill Levy - Recent Announcement May 2009

In the State Budget announcement, a proposed increase to the Landfill Levy (for both putrescible and inert material) was included. This will mean a levy of $28/ tonne as of 1 July 2009 – and a council rate/waste charge increase of about $24 per household. The State Government will also seek to change the Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Act 2007, to allow the additional funds to be directed to Department of Environment and Conservation activities. Currently funds from the Levy are hypothecated to strategic waste management activities.

This decision was completely unexpected and has not included any consultation with the Sector – the Association was expecting an increase to $8/ tonne (as per the current Regulations). Council Budgets have been set with the amount outlined in the Regulations.

The Association is seeking an urgent meeting with the Minister for Environment to emphasise that:

• A significant proportion of this additional revenue has to go back to Local Government to support and recycling and resource recovery operations (particularly given the low price for recyclable materials); and
• The Levy needs to remain hypothecated to Strategic waste management activities - it is not a revenue raising tool for the State Government.

  For further information, please contact Manager, Waste and Recycling, Rebecca Brown on 9213 2063 or email rbrown@walaga.asn.au

Waste Management Board Landfill Levy Review

In September 2007 the Waste Management Board engaged a consultant to undertake a review of some aspects of the Landfill Levy. The Consultant, Dr Micheal Blyth of Four Scenes Consulting Pty Ltd, conducted destop review of relevant reports and held interview with selected stakeholders.

The Municipal Waste Advisory Council has developed a Submission to the report. The MWAC Submission is available here. The Submission has been provided to the Waste Management Board.

Background

In 1998 Western Australia brought in a levy on waste sent to landfill in the Metropolitan area of $3 per tonne for putrescible wastes and $1 per tonne for inert wastes.  In some other states of Australia, most notably New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, much higher levies are charged on waste sent to landfill. 

As of 1 October 2006 the Landfill Levy increased to $6 per tonne for biodegradable waste and $3 per cubic metre for inert waste.  For more information visit the Waste Authority's Website

In addition to increasing the Levy the Minister also committed to establishing a statutory waste authority to oversee the expenditure of the additional funds raised.  The Municipal Waste Advisory Council expressed conditional support for the increase, based on the amount of the Levy being capped for the next two years and any further increases being justified by evidence of a reduction of waste to landfill.

Although Local Government initially opposed the Landfill Levy, in 2005, the WA Local Government Association developed a Policy Statement on the Landfill Levy and Strategic Waste Funding which set out conditional support for the Levy System as a means of raising strategic funding for waste management.  The Policy Statement is available here.