Landfill Levy Victoria ♻️: Expect disposal fees to increase as Victorian councils proceed with its decade-long plan to reduce pollution, boost their economy and provide more jobs to people. Read this blog to learn more. 

 

Plenty of countries with their governing bodies have battled to attain waste reduction and boost recycling for a long time already. Admittedly, this problem may not go away for a long time. But still, we can all continue coming up with ways to combat this.

Victorian councils, in particular, have introduced landfill levies for quite some time now. However, to pick up the pace, the landfill levy of each Victorian council will more or less double over the upcoming years in part of the government’s strategy. Below, we will share everything you need to know about the strategy. In addition, we will also share what changes the Victorian government has come up with to implement.

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A bit about Waster

So, what do you need to know about the landfill levy in Victoria? Before we discuss that, let me share more information about Waster.

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READ: Can You Recycle Cutlery? 🍴

 

Victoria’s landfill levy will indeed increase

As we have mentioned, change will come now that a 10-year plan will come to cut waste, provide jobs, boost recycling and improve the economy. Called the “Recycling Victoria: a new economy” strategy, one of its main aims is to ensure that through the coming years, the waste problem will not go out of hand and regulated. According to the Victorian government, we should expect waste production to increase by 40 per cent come 2046.

In addition, there has also been a looming problem wherein, due to the initially cheaper landfill levy in Victoria, neighbouring states use Victoria as dumping grounds, which leads to a number of waste and recycling problems.

To counter that, they drafted and put into play the Recycling Victoria strategy. With that, of course, comes some changes others might not like initially. The change that we are talking about, of course, is the doubling of landfill levies in Victoria. Over the next three years, we will see an increase from 65.90 dollars to 125.90 dollars.

 

Increase in Ballarat

ABC reports that Ballarat City council, in particular, increased the waste levy by a significant 14.74 per cent compared to last year. They announced this when they released their draft budget subjected to submission.

ABC reports that:

“Ballarat ratepayers will spend about $1.3 million more on waste fees in the next financial year.

“Mr King said the council was moving towards a more circular economy for both the environmental and financial benefits.

“‘There’ll be a real focus over the next few years of us trying to divert as much as waste from landfill as we can so that we can take the pressure off that waste charge continuing to increase,’ he said.

“There’s $250, 000 in this budget to undertake a business case for a recycling facility so that we can make sure we’re getting as much recycling out of the general waste stream.”

If implemented properly, the benefits far outweigh the one disadvantage.

 

Landfill levy Victoria: changes

There will come changes in line with the Recycling Victoria strategy aiming to increase the landfill levy. In the future, remember that all Victorians will have to separate their waste into 4 streams to encourage more waste recycling. Below, we share the breakdown provided by the Victorian government.

Number one: expect that in 2030, there will be 4-bin waste and recycling system for households to follow across the state in partnership with councils. Basically, this includes glass recycling, commingled recycling, food and garden recycling and general waste.

The glass recyclables were removed in commingled recycling and got a dedicated household recycling bin, which will be fully in place once 2027 hits. Glass can contaminate a whole batch of recyclables. It can ruin and stick to other recyclables such as paper and cardboard. When that happens, separating them is difficult and costly. The Victorian government aims to solve that problem by separating and recycling them away from other materials.

Additionally, the Victorian government implemented a Container deposit scheme for glass, aluminium and PET plastic beverage containers.

Investment

Another change implemented includes investing approximately 100 million dollars to ” strengthen Victoria’s waste and recycling industry – grow the local industry, create local jobs and drive innovation and new technologies.”

Finally, the last of the change will see the stricter regulation of the waste and recycling sector with a new recycling Act implemented to stop illegal dumping, unsafe storage and stockpiling of waste.

The changes are currently happening now in 2021 and households there will be told once a change is happening in their area. As for the exact date, that will depend on the needs of areas and council contracts, with the new system coming in place across the state by 2030.

 

Benefits gained

Of course, the Recycling Victoria strategy that will increase the landfill levy comes with a load of benefits people will enjoy through the years. This includes, as per the Victorian government, the following:

  • establish a recycling system that Victorians can rely on
  • increase recycling
  • reduce the amount of waste going to landfill
  • improve the way we use materials and deal with waste
  • reduce litter in the environment
  • create new jobs and technologies in waste management and recycling industries and boost Victoria’s economy
  • reduce emissions from the waste sector and contribute to our target of net zero emissions by 2050.

 

Conclusion on landfill levy Victoria

We certainly would love to see the Recycle Victoria strategy succeed. Landfill levy increases sometimes get their bad rap. But, with the proper implementation, we can certainly see its success.

 

Contact Waster today

Are you a business in need of waste and recycling bin services?

If so, please call 1300 WASTER (1300 927 837).  You can also email us at enquiries@waster.com.au if you have any further questions. Find the best deals in terms of waste and recycling pricing and services!

 

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