International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

In 2006 the Government of Western Australia implemented a decision to
progressively increase the landfill levy from AUS $3 per tonne to AUS $9 per tonne for
putrescible waste and from AUS $1 per cubic meter to AUS $9 a cubic metre for inert
waste to by 2010-11. The first increase occurred in October 2006, with unit increases
of $1 for putrescible, and $2 for inert each year from 2008-09.
52.2.4.3 Austria
The Austrian Waste Management Act 2002 includes the basis for both federal and
provincial waste management plans. The policies that are of significance in the
current context are:
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� The waste disposal fee for inter alia landfilling of waste, first implemented in
1989; and
� The ban on untreated waste going to landfills: Waste with Total Organic
Content (TOC) above 5% has to be either incinerated or treated in mechanical
biological facilities from 2004.
The Austrian landfill tax (‘Altlastensanierungsbeitrag’, or AlsaG for short which refers
to the respective legal matter Al Altlastensa Al
sa sanierungsgesetz sa
- Clean-Up of Contaminated
Sites Act) was introduced to incentivise landfill operators to upgrade the level of
pollution control in place, improve greenhouse gas abatement and clean up
contamination at their sites, with the revenue generated used for investment in waste
management and to reduce waste disposed of at landfills.
The legal basis for the policy was the 1989 Clean-Up of Contaminated Sites Act that
was introduced following the emergence of environmental problems such as those at
the ‘Fischer Deponie’, a waste disposal site where hazardous chemicals had been
dumped, and which threatened the drinking water resources of some 500,000
inhabitants. 906 The proponents of the Act foresaw increased work in surveying and
identification of potentially problematic sites (often, old landfills), and the need to
generate funding to contain and treat any potential or emerging problems.
The tax was introduced in 1989 and since 1996 its rates have been differentiated
according to the technical quality of the landfill site and to the type of waste. 907 In its
most recent form, the tax is applied at a much lower rate where the waste has been
subject to mechanical biological treatment (€26 per tonne) and meets specified
criteria for landfilling, whereas for waste which has not been pre-treated, it is € 87 per
tonne (this is more or less redundant today). There are also further surcharges of €29
per tonne for cases where i) the landfill has no basement seal system or no vertical
906 Umweltbundesamt (2000), Management of contaminated sites in Western Europe, Report for the
European Environment Agency.
http://reports.eea.europa.eu/Topic_report_No_131999/en/topic_13_1999.pdf .
907 H. Bartelings, P. van Beukering, O. Kuik, V. Linderhof, F. Oosterhuis, L. Brander and A. Wagtendonk
(2005) Effectiveness of Landfill Taxation, R-05/05, Report Commissioned by Ministerie von VROM,
November 24, 2005.
29/09/09