Ratepayers won’t have to pay carbon tax on dumping rubbish following a federal government decision not to charge the tax on smaller council-operated dumps.
But people should keep on recycling to ensure the their local council stays below the 25,000 tonnes a year threshold.
The original draft legislation would have seen smaller landfills with direct annual emissions of between 10,000 and 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year liable under the carbon tax, if they were close enough to a dump emitting more than 25,000 tonnes.
Amendments to exempt small landfills from the Australian government’s carbon pricing legislation have been welcomed by the national body for local government.
The president of the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA), mayor Genia McCaffery, congratulated minister for climate change and energy efficiency Greg Combet for his ‘preparedness to listen and give serious consideration to local government’s concerns’.
‘ALGA welcomes the outcomes of the parliamentary process and the introduction of a market-based approach to carbon pricing. The amended legislation addresses local government’s concerns about the impact of a carbon price on small landfills, many of which are owned by councils,’ mayor McCaffery said.
‘The government has listened to this feedback and decided to set the prescribed distance at zero, which will mean that no landfill facilities with direct emissions of between 10,000 and 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide will be liable under the carbon pricing mechanism.’
’The government also amended the Bill to ensure that if the prescribed distance is increased in the future, small landfill facilities are only liable for emissions from new waste and not waste deposited before the change.’
Mayor Genia McCaffery has also thanked independent Tony Windsor for his advocacy of local government on the issue.
