RRRS
Resource Recovery Rebate Scheme
The Resource Recovery Rebate Scheme (RRRS), replaced the Municipal Recycling Scheme in 2001 and allows local governments and regional councils to claim a rebate for material they can demonstrate has been reused, recovered or recycled. The RRRS was funded through the Landfill Levy and was administered by the Municipal Waste Advisory Council on behalf of the Waste Management Board.
Resource Recovery Rebate Scheme Data Project
The RRRS Data Project commenced in 2005 and entails automating the compilation of Resource Recovery Rebate Scheme Reports and allows a large variety of parameters to be examined over time. A copy of the Period 16 Statewide Graph for the Project is available here.
Replacing the RRRS
The last application for the RRRS (Period 16) covered the time period 1 January 2006 to 30 June 2006. An interim Scheme to ensure data capture continues was the AC/DC Scheme. For more information on the interim scheme click here.
More on the RRRS
The RRRS was open to all local governments and regional councils in Western Australia and the Rottnest Island Authority. Applications for the RRRS were posted out twice each year, in December and June and cover six month Periods, from the 1st January to 30th June or 1st July to 31st December. Funding levels for the RRRS are approximately $1.2 million per Period.
Rebates for the Scheme are calculated using three main factors:
- What type of material was recycled;
- How the material was recycled; and
- Where the material was recycled.
These three factors are broken down further into sub-factors and assigned weightings. For example, the Scheme recognises that there are geographical impediments to the provision of recycling and recovery services. In general, claims by local governments further from the metropolitan area and with low population densities, will receive a higher weighting than local governments located in the metropolitan area with higher population densities.
After reviewing the applications, the RRRS Working Group makes recommendations to the Waste Management Board for each applicant. The better the quality of information included in application, the better case the RRRS Working Group is able to present to the Waste Management Board.
RRRS Replacement
The Waste Management Board announced in the first half of 2005 that it intends to phase out the Resource Recovery Rebate Scheme (RRRS) by mid- 2006, in favour of a new scheme which will provide greater incentive for Councils and others to improve their recycling and recovery performance. The Board’s recommendations for a replacement for the RRRS are available by clicking here.
In July 2005, the Board held a workshop to gather information and receive comments on the proposed replacement to the RRRS. At this workshop the replacement Scheme, currently named the Resource Recovery Incentive Scheme (RRIS), was discussed.
Local Government Position Paper
A Municipal Waste Advisory Council working group developed a Position Paper on behalf of the Council, setting out the principles and characteristics which Local Government would wish to see in the replacement scheme. The Position Paper can be downloaded here.
Board Response
Partly in response to the the workshop and comments made in the Local Government Position Paper, the Waste Management Board developed a Discussion Paper which it released in late December 2005. The Discussion Paper covers a range of instruments, including the RRIS, which are proposed to be used by the State Government to achieve change in a variety of areas through different mechanisms. The Discussion Paper provides a useful insight into the intended context in which the RRIS would sit, but does not provide extensive detail on the likely form that the RRIS program will take. The Discussion Paper can be downloaded here.