New waste tax will change polluters' behaviour

New waste tax will change polluters' behaviour

A new levy on solid waste going to landfill will give polluters the option of paying – or changing their behaviour.

The New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development, whose 60 member companies' annual sales equate to 34% of gross domestic product, says the proposed new green tax is a good move.

Agreed between the Government and the Green Party as part of a new waste minimisation and resource recovery bill, the levy on solid waste to landfills will start at $10 a tonne, as the Business Council advised in submissions to a select committee earlier this year.

The Business Council wants the levy progressively raised to $30 a tonne over three years.

The resulting $90 million fund should then be invested in innovative new ways to tackle the country's 3.2million tonne a year solid waste mountain.

Business Council Chief Executive Peter Neilson says a new levy, backed by 67% of New Zealanders in a nationwide ShapeNZ research conducted for the Business Council in July this year, will shoot the bill for pollution home to polluters.

The country can expect to see the same benefits other countries have enjoyed after introducing similar waste taxes.

The amount of solid industrial and construction waste being recycled in Denmark jumped from just under 30% to 90% after the introduction of a landfill tax. At the same time municipal waste volumes stopped growing.

A levy in New South Wales has improved the viability of recycling construction and demolition waste, along with green waste, glass and plastic.

"Congratulations to the Greens for making their original waste minimisation bill more business friendly. It will now be more effective. If the agreed changes buy greater cross party support it is going to make a big difference. Like emissions trading, businesses will know a price exists for polluting and they can then deal with it."

Mr Neilson says it is important the major new waste fund is spent only on projects which show they can be cost effective.

"The country doesn't need a slush fund for council, community group and commercial pet projects. This is a chance to back waste recycling, re use and reduction innovations which otherwise wouldn't see the light of day because of the small scale of our market."

ENDS

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