Book 8 - Parliament of Victoria

ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION AMENDMENT (LANDFILL LEVIES) BILL 2011
1730 COUNCIL Thursday, 2 June 2011
Second reading
Ordered that second-reading speech be
incorporated into Hansard on motion of
Hon. G. K. RICH-PHILLIPS (Assistant Treasurer).
Hon. G. K. RICH-PHILLIPS (Assistant
Treasurer) — I move:
That the bill be now read a second time.
Incorporated speech as follows:
The Environment Protection Amendment (Landfill Levies)
Bill augments Victoria’s landfill levies to help deliver better
waste management and achieve the government’s goal of
making our cities more livable and sustainable.
This bill will deliver on commitments made by the Victorian
government to work with local communities and support
innovative recycling and resource-recovery projects.
The new levy settings will create jobs, stimulate business
growth and promote cleaner technologies. The revenues earnt
will be reinvested in environmental actions and programs that
are efficient, effective and present value for money for the
Victorian community.
This bill and the associated reinvestments in waste reduction
and other environment programs will help boost Victoria’s
productivity and competitiveness in a global economy that
increasingly values sustainability.
Victoria already recycles 6 million tonnes of waste each year
but an increase in the landfill levy will deliver even greater
levels of resource recovery from the remaining 4 million
tonnes still going to landfill.
Every 10 000 tonnes of recycled material supports more than
nine jobs, compared with less than three jobs supported by the
same amount of material going to landfill.
Increasing the levies will help Victorians send less waste to
landfill and reduce the harms to local households and nearby
businesses — including noise, dust and odour.
It will render advanced recycling more viable and drive
confident investment in better facilities that do not debilitate
surrounding environments or upset local communities.
Without this increase in levies, Victoria runs the risk of
stalling in our recycling, and foregoing greater economic,
environmental and community benefits.
In Victoria, generating waste and disposing of it into landfills
is a very minor component of business and household costs,
and remains cheap compared to other waste management
solutions, such as recycling.
As a consequence, the amount of waste generated statewide
continues to increase and although recycling and resource
recovery is also increasing, the absolute volume of waste
going to landfill continues to climb.
Yet over the years, Victorian households and businesses have
devoted effort to make a difference by introducing recycling
into their daily routines — this bill will support their
commitment.
To provide greater certainty to businesses and government
planning, the bill designates staged levy increments and sets a
fixed trajectory for the coming four years.
Recognising the difference in household and business cost
factors between urban centres and rural Victoria, a difference
between urban and rural landfill levy rates will be retained.
The new levy will set appropriate incentives for waste
reduction alternatives, and strike the right balance between
greater recycling and limiting the burden on households and
businesses.
It will generate sufficient funding to support the important
reinvestment of capital in environmental technology
innovation and programs that will help improve Victoria’s
environment, yet reflect governmental prudence and deliver a
sustainable fiscal position.
From 1 July 2011 the levy for every tonne of municipal
(household and council) and commercial waste will increase
by 10 per cent above the rates currently proposed for that
year.
Following these initial increases of 1 July 2011, the levies
will progressively increase by approximately 10 per cent each
year over the following three years, to 2014–15.
Levy revenues will be reinvested in environmental actions
and programs that are efficient, effective and provide value
for money for the Victorian community.
In particular, the government is committed to making sure
that waste programs and initiatives have sufficient funding to
meaningfully secure the aims of the higher levies.
This funding commitment will be directed to better waste
outcomes for local government, businesses and commercial
operators involved in reducing Victoria’s waste and capturing
greater value from discarded resources.
Funding will:
support Victorian businesses to dispose less waste to
landfill;
support innovators in the recycling industry and local
government who are willing to invest early in better
technologies, facilities and services;
remove logistical and systemic obstacles to recovering
commercial value from otherwise abandoned material;
and
finance value-for-money projects that produce
meaningful and sustainable outcomes through the
‘sustainability fund’.
Key government agencies involved in waste management,
recycling and resource efficiency will continue to assist all
sectors of the community, especially businesses and local
government, to reduce waste and improve resource use
efficiency.
These roles are vital to capture greater wealth from the
materials passing through our economy and to protect local
households, businesses and environments from the protracted
problems created by less advanced waste management
practices.