SVC calls on NSW Government to Reinvest Waste Levy Fund

Published on 25 November 2019

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Snowy Valleys Council last week endorsed the Local Government NSW’s sector-wide Save our Recycling campaign and will write to the State Government advocating for the reinvestment of the Waste Levy in recycling initiatives.

Mayor James Hayes said Council is calling on the state Government to support and invest in local waste and recycling services via the Waste Levy.

“Council’s future aspirational goal is zero waste to landfill and we need State Government to financially invest in resource recovery and education to have any chance of achieving it,” he said.

The NSW Government collects revenue from a Waste Levy via licensed waste facilities to discourage the amount of waste being landfilled and to promote recycling and resource recovery.

According to the latest NSW Budget papers, the Waste Levy totalled $772 million in 2018/19.

By 2022/23 the Waste Levy revenue is forecast to have increased to more than $800 million a year with less than one fifth currently invested back into waste and recycling programs.

The Save our Recycling campaign calls for the Waste Levy to be reinvested in:

  • Increasing local and state government procurement of recycled goods made with domestic content;
  • Delivering a state-wide education campaign on the importance of recycling to encourage the right way to recycle, the purchase of products with recycled content, and promoting waste avoidance.
  • Funding councils to develop regional plans for the future of waste and resource recovery in their regions
  • Priority infrastructure and other local projects needed to deliver the regional-scale plans, particularly where a market failure has been identified.