Skip Bin & Rubbish Removal Companies feel the pinch

From 1 July 2009, the government required waste disposal facility operators to pay a waste disposal levy of $10 (+ GST) per tonne on rubbish disposed of at landfills.

The levy has been introduced as part of the government’s implementation of the Waste Minimisation Act 2008, aimed at encouraging waste minimisation and decreasing waste disposal levels in New Zealand.

Waste Minimisation Levy introduced from 1 July 2009

Every year, New Zealanders send around 3.2 million tonnes of waste to landfill. To improve the environmental future of our country, we need to start taking responsibility for this waste by finding more effective and efficient ways to reduce, reuse, recycle or reprocess it.

On 25 September 2008, the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 (the Act) was introduced to ‘encourage waste minimisation and decrease waste disposal in New Zealand’. Under the Act, a $10 per tonne levy (excluding GST) on all waste sent to landfill will be imposed from 1 July 2009.

The money generated by the waste disposal levy will be used to promote activities and fund projects that help minimise waste. The levy will act as an incentive to people and organisations to think more innovatively about how they can minimise the waste they produce.

The levy will be charged at facilities where waste (including household waste) is disposed of and which operate, at least in part, as businesses which dispose of waste.

Half of the revenue generated by the levy will go to territorial authorities, based on their population size, and will have to be spent solely on promoting or achieving the waste minimisation activities set out in their waste management and minimisation plans.

A waste minimisation fund will be set up with the remaining levy money, minus administration costs, to fund waste minimisation projects. Projects will be assessed according to a set of criteria that will be established in consultation with the Waste Advisory Board. The Minister for the Environment will have final approval on all project funding.

Placing a levy on waste helps us to recognise the real social, economic, and environmental impact and cost that waste has on people and the environment.

For more information go to:
http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/waste/waste-disposal-levy/index.html