The Ministry for the Environment is currently consulting on changes to the Waste Levy. The Waste Levy is absolutely critical for the system-level changes we need to move away from our obscenely wasteful linear economic system towards a more sustainable circular economy.
It does this in two ways:
1. It disincentives throwing things away by making it more costly
2. It creates a fund for projects that seek to minimise waste and move towards a circular economy
Many Zero Waste Network members have received funding as a result of the waste levy, and it is critical that this work is massively expanded if we are going to actually deal with our waste problem.
The current levy is only $10/tonne. It has never been set and still sits on the default rate set when the Waste Minimisation Act was passed in 2008. International research shows that a progressively introduced rate topping out at around $140/tonne is much closer to where we need to be.
Make Your Voice Heard: It’s Easy
This consultation closes at 5pm on Monday 3 February 2020.
- Use our template submission to help you with the consultation questions
- Complete your submission online here
Want More Resources and Info?
- Read the Ministry’s full consultation document here, or the summary version here.
- Our friends at The Rubbish Trip have put together this super useful FAQ to answer some gnarly questions about the waste levy
- Read the full report or a summary of Eunomia’s research to improve understanding of the impacts of possible changes to the structure and rate of the Waste Disposal Levy. The study, which was commissioned by a consortium of businesses and councils, showed that there are likely to be real benefits for NZ through putting in place a well-structured levy regime.
What do you think? Let us know…
The Zero Waste Network is here to represent you. We will be making a submission on the waste levy and want to best represent the interests of our members. If you have any lingering questions or thoughts about the ZWN submission, we would appreciate hearing from you. You can email us or message our Facebook Page.