Scrap over waste levy

ROGUE operators are gearing up to break the law and dump huge amounts of waste around the city to avoid a new Government levy – and Gold Coast ratepayers will be left to pay for the cleanup.

Ratepayers are facing millions of dollars in extra costs when the waste levy is introduced, as well as the cost of cleaning up the mess when illegal loads are dumped in the bush, parks or on the roadside.

The State Government is demanding the council collect the levy. It also claims ratepayers will not have to cop the cost.

But the council will also have to send out teams and machinery to clean up the mess when commercial and private operators dump loads of garbage to avoid a general waste levy of $70 a tonne and a regulated waste fee of up to $150 a tonne that would be charged if they went to council landfill waste collection centres.

Opposition environment spokesman David Crisafulli yesterday also revealed residents in Gold Coast retirement villages using private garbage collectors will pay extra costs.

The Broadwater MP warned businesses were certain to pass on the extra charge to clients and the council would likely impose higher rates for administering the levy. “It is going to bite,” he said.

But confusion reigns, with a city council officer’s report revealing a directive from the Government to introduce the landfill levy in March next year has the local authority perplexed. The waste levy is to apply to all landfill.

On the one hand the Government promises it will not impact on householders because councils are to be reimbursed “105 per cent’’ of the levy payment.

With general waste to be billed at $70 a tonne and regulated waste up to $150 a tonne, the council has been told it must collect the levy and calculate all waste at its landfills.

“The State Government has provided no directions on how the waste levy is to be collected or how the reimbursed funds are to be utilised,” the council report said.

So the council and therefore ratepayers face cost “challenges’’ in upgrading recycling facilities and resource recovery areas. The estimated preliminary cost for the waste levy is $2.3 million.

“Introduction of the waste levy will almost certainly increase illegal dumping of waste,” the report warns.

A spokesman for Environment Minister Steven Miles said the council’s application for a local grants program, which could provide $5 million to help with waste disposal facility infrastructure upgrades, was being considered.