STAFF WRITER
Kyogle Council has been lobbying for a decade to have its waste levy removed.
Today, Tuesday, August 25, State MP Janelle Saffin announced that Kyogle Council has been permanently removed from the Regional Levy Area, saving ratepayers up to $400,000 a year in waste levy charges.
Ms Saffin said she lobbied the Minister for Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Heritage Penny Sharpe who granted the permanent exemption for Kyogle Council.
“This was always about equity; Council’s advocacy brief made an argument that they should never have been included in the RLA, and I was able to get a temporary four-year exemption as a commitment at the 2023 State election,” Ms Saffin said.
“Neighbouring Tenterfield Shire sat just outside the RLA and Kyogle’s strong case for exemption seemed fair on a comparative basis.”
Minister Sharpe recently wrote to Ms Saffin, saying she was pleased to inform her that she had decided to grant a permanent exemption for Kyogle Council. The levy has been around in some form since 1971, when it started in Sydney
“The Government is committed to a fair and consistent framework for waste operators and councils regarding the waste levy,” Minister Sharpe wrote.
“In considering your request, I have considered a range of matters including projected population growth, waste generation and disposal trends, and potential waste flows between levied and non-levied areas.”
Kyogle mayor Danielle Mulholland was thrilled with the exemption.
“To hear that we had been granted a temporary exemption gave us hope that perhaps we were getting some traction but to receive the news that it has been permanently removed – it’s not only exciting but we finally feel heard,” Ms Mulholland said.
What is the waste levy?
Under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act, licensed waste facilities in parts of NSW must pay the state a set amount for every tonne of rubbish they receive.
It’s designed to make landfill expensive enough that recycling and resource recovery
become the cheaper option.
The levy doesn’t apply everywhere.
It covers a ‘regulated area’ taking in Sydney, the Illawarra and Hunter, the Blue Mountains, Wingecarribee and Wollondilly, and the central and north coast councils all the way to the Queensland border.
That area is split into two zones charged at different rates — the Metropolitan Levy Area and the Regional Levy Area — with both adjusted each year in line with inflation.
From July 1 this year the regional rate rose to $103.80 a tonne, and the
metropolitan rate to $180.20.
The EPA collects the money, which then goes into the state’s Consolidated Fund — general revenue — rather than being quarantined for waste programs.
By convention roughly a third is allocated back to the environment portfolio, and about half of that to waste and recycling work.
For a council, the levy is a straight operating cost on its landfill, and it flows through to households in the annual waste charge.