Tara Murray
Brimbank council wants money from the state government’s landfill levy to help it transition to a four-bin waste and recycling collection service.
At last week’s council meeting, Cr Virginia Tachos raised a notice of motion highlighting the amount of money that was collected by the levy and how much the council received in return.
Councils pay the levy to the state government, with the money collected held in the government’s Sustainability Fund.
Cr Tachos called for the council to write to the state government asking it to consider using the landfill levy to support local governments’ current kerbside waste and recycling collection services transition to a four-bin service to reduce the reliance on landfills and their associated impacts to the Brimbank and neighbouring communities.
Cr Tachos said that the anticipated costs for Brimbank transfer to the proposed four-bin service was estimated to be about $18 million.
“The state government Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning have received applications for transition plans from local government as part of its $47 million funding for kerbside reforms funding program as part of its Circular Economy Policy. The amount of funding available across the state is not considered equitable in comparison to the amount accrued as part of the Sustainability Fund,” she said.
“The [levy] in 2009-10 was $9 per tonne in metropolitan areas, however this has risen progressively to $65.90 per tonne in metropolitan areas in 2019-20. The state government proposes to increase the levy to $105.90 per tonne in 2021-22 and to $125.90 per tonne in 2022–23.
“I also understand that the Brimbank community has contributed approximately $33 million towards the landfill levy from the landfill levy’s inception and has only received approximately $700,000 in funding over this period.
“According to the state government’s Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning Annual Reports, the income from municipal and industrial landfill levies in 2020 was $261 million.”
Cr Tachos said fast-tracking Brimbank’s transition to a four-bin system could help reduce the impacts of landfill on the municipality.
Meanwhile, Cr Bruce Lancashire raised a motion asking for a possible timeline for the introduction of the four-bin system.
