CONNECT . INNOVATE . ACHIEVE

Waste Bill open for comment

Published: 11th September 2018

On 6 September 2018, the Hon Leeanne Enoch MP, Minister for Environment and the Great Barrier Reef, Minister for Science, and Minister for the Arts, introduced the Waste Reduction and Recycling (Waste Levy) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018 into the Queensland Parliament.
 
The Bill was referred to the Innovation, Tourism Development and Environment Committee for detailed consideration, with a report date of 22 October 2018. 
 
The introduction of this Bill is of significant interest and concern for local councils. There are several unresolved matters that need to be considered as part of this consultation process including:
  • direct and indirect impacts on households on all council operations and facility waste streams be considered as exempt waste to avoid any direct impact on Queensland households; 
  • the proposed single criteria for the inclusion of councils in the waste levy zone; 
  • the proposed waste levy proceeds going to non-waste related programs and activities;
  • the infrastructure needs of councils to enable them to be ‘Waste Levy Ready’ must be fully funded by the State Government and not the proposed 70/30 proportionate split between State and councils;
  • the introduction of regional subsidy schemes (e.g. transport) to offset the additional costs incurred by regional councils in accessing markets for recycled commodities in the short-to-medium term;
  • the consideration of how street sweepings are handled in a post disaster response; and
  • the requirement that councils must include the rebate on rates notices.

Reading

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Bill is to introduce a waste levy that will:

  • act as a price signal that encourages waste avoidance and resource recovery behaviours, and discourages disposal to landfill as the first option
  • provide a source of funding for programs to assist local government, business and industry to establish better resource recovery practices, improve overall waste management performance and sustain Queensland’s natural environment
  • provide certainty and security of feedstocks for advanced resource recovery and recycling technologies and processing, and
  • facilitate industry investment in resource recovery infrastructure.

Have your say

The committee invites submissions addressing any aspect of the Waste Reduction and Recycling (Waste Levy) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018, from all interested parties.  Guidelines for making a submission to a parliamentary committee are available here: Guide to making a submission. Please ensure your submission meets these requirements.

Submissions can be made direct to the Innovation, Tourism Development and Environment Parliamentary Committee on or before 4pm, Wednesday 19th September 2018.

The LGAQ will be making a submission to the committee and is seeking your input into this matter. If you wish to provide comments to be included in the LGAQ submission can you please send through via email: ask@lgaq.asn.au by Friday 14th September.

Alternatively, if you wish to discuss this matter you can phone 1300 542 700.