Queensland will introduce a new $70 per tonne waste levy from the 1st July 2019, with the new levy increasing by $5 for the next four years. The landfill levy will be applied to general waste streams such as municipal solid waste, commercial and industrial waste and construction and demolition waste originating from, or disposed to landfills within, a levied zone. The waste levy zone will include 38 local government areas out of 77, which covers 90 per cent of Queensland’s total population. Councils will have an exciting opportunity to strengthen the recovery of commodities in a number of headline waste streams whilst creating a number of new jobs. While it is proposed that the levy will be applied equally across all general waste streams, the Queensland Government has committed to avoiding direct costs to households.
This will be achieved by providing an annual advance set at 105% of the tonnage disposed in the previous year multiplied by the current levy rate. Any derived savings would be retained by the council thus providing enough financial support to prevent costs being transferred to households, as well as providing additional funds to invest in measures to recover headline waste and encourage the progressive reduction of disposal to landfill. Using current waste levy rates, the graphics below provides an example of the potential savings for Councils.
FOCUS enviro offer a number of recycling solutions to assist operators extract valuable commodities and reduce the amount of waste going to landfill. For more information contact FOCUS enviro here…
