Councils back move to charge significantly higher fees for dumping rubbish

Wednesday, 18 July 2018

A proposed increase to the Government's waste disposal levy could see the cost of dumping a carload of rubbish at Wellington's Southern Landfill jump from about $10 to $40 or more.

The amount of money Kiwis pay to dump rubbish at landfills could soon quadruple.

Councils across the country are calling for an increase to the $10 waste disposal levy the Government currently charges on every tonne of rubbish disposed of in landfills – one of the lowest levies in the world.

Wellington cirty councillor Iona Pannett says increasing landfill fees would encourage people to create less waste

Australia's waste levies are up to $133 per tonne, while the United Kingdom charges $160 and in Europe it's $300.

Local Government New Zealand wants the Government to increase our levy as a means of discouraging landfill dumping, and the Associate Environment Minister has not ruled out the idea.

The amount of rubbish New Zealand produces is rising, but charges imposed on dumping at landfills are not. (File photo)

Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage says existing legislation isn't doing all it could be to reduce waste in landfills.

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The average Kiwi produces 734kg of household waste per year – about the weight of a cow.

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The levy is charged to local councils, which are responsible for setting their own landfill fees. Raising the Government-imposed charge would likely see fees increase across the country as a means of recouping that cost.

National's Environment spokesman Scott Simpson says any increase to the waste disposal levy needed to be balanced against the Government's promise to not introduce any new taxes this term.

For Wellington, this could see the price of dumping a small carload of rubbish jump from about $10 to an estimated $40 or more.

Wellington city councillor Iona Pannett said increasing landfill fees would encourage people to create less waste. Dumping a carload of rubbish at the Southern Landfill cost her about $8, which was far too low to discourage the practise.

Increasing the Government's waste disposal levy could encourage Kiwis to recycle more.

'At the moment, too much is going to our landfill.'

The extra income from increased fees would allow councils to better manage waste and create new infrastructure, Pannett said.

A remit to increase the levy was put forward by the Wellington and Christchurch city councils at the recent Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) conference. It passed with 96 per cent support.

Wellington City Council chief resilience officer Mike Mendonca pointed out that a national approach was needed to change the culture of dumping.

Wellington, for example, could not simply increase its landfill fees in isolation to encourage more recycling.

'Whenever Hutt [Valley], Porirua or Wellington landfills increase [fees], all that happens is the waste goes to the other landfills. It is very price sensitive,' he said.

'It needs to be a national framework, otherwise we just shift waste rather than reduce waste.'

But Mendonca acknowledged that increasing landfill fees could also lead to more illegal dumping.

Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage said the waste disposal levy not been increased since the previous Government introduced it in 2009.

'Sadly the tools in this excellent legislation haven't been implemented to their best effect over the last decade,' she said. 'Work is underway to ensure better implementation of the Act.'

A 2017 review recommended the levy be expanded to cover more landfills, and be increased.

A Ministry for the Environment spokeswoman said when the levy was set in 2009, it was always the intention it would increase over time, but that had not happened.

National's Environment spokesman Scott Simpson the waste disposal levy had worked well to date.

'Any move to increase the waste disposal levy must be balanced against this Government's promise to introduce no new taxes in this term,' he said.

'Excessively increasing the levy, as Minister Sage has spoken about, would increase costs on families and likely lead to more dumping of waste.'

Simpson said he was open to exploring other methods of charging more for some waste than others, 'so things that we don't particularly want to go to landfill would have a higher charge than things that are going to be less problematic'.

The average Kiwi currently produces 734 kilograms of household waste per year – about the weight of a cow.