Local Government calls for CPRS changes
April 15, 2009
In its submission on the draft Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) legislation, the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) has urged the Rudd Government to make changes to the treatment of waste under the proposed CPRS.
ALGA's submission draws on an independent briefing by Deacons' National Climate Change Group (available from ALGA's website at www.alga.asn.au) on the likely impacts of the proposed scheme on councils.
ALGA President Geoff Lake said, "While local government generally supports the establishment of the CPRS, we believe there are problems for councils and households in the proposed scheme that need to be addressed. All households across Australia can expect to be hit by increased waste disposal costs regardless of whether their council owns and operates a landfill site."
The primary concerns for local government relate to how the CPRS proposes to deal with waste facilities and in particular:
- the measurement of emissions arising from waste;
- the inclusion in the scheme of past waste, or 'legacy waste', that is emissions generated from waste deposited prior to 1 July 2008; and
- the proposed reduction in the size of waste facilities which are captured in the scheme.
Measurement of waste:
"ALGA supports a universal scheme but believes the Government has not addressed the concerns of councils and the waste industry in relation to how emissions from waste can be measured reliably.
"We believe the Government should work with the waste management sector, including councils, to resolve the various outstanding technical issues before waste is included in the scheme."
"Professor Garnaut's report acknowledges that waste has not been included in any other country's emissions trading scheme because measuring emissions from waste facilities is problematic. Professor Garnaut recommends other policies to encourage mitigation in the waste sector ought to be pursued prior to the inclusion of waste in the Australian scheme. This is a sensible approach which local government would prefer to see adopted."
Legacy waste:
"While the Government has gone some way to accommodating our concerns about legacy waste emissions by deferring liability until 2018, we maintain that the inclusion of legacy waste is unfair.
"It makes no sense to force present and future generations to pay for past waste discarded prior to commencement of the scheme, and in many cases, long before climate change was even acknowledged as an issue by the Australian Government. The inclusion of this so called 'legacy waste' will not make any contribution to reducing carbon emissions, however it will add significantly to the costs of every household across the country.
"Based on research done by Hyder Consulting, we estimate that the inclusion of legacy waste will cost households up to an additional $25 a year in extra charges.
"We support current and future waste being captured and properly priced in the scheme, but we don't think Australians should have to pay retrospectively for past waste deposited prior to the scheme's commencement. No other industry is expected to pay for its past activity and waste should not be an exception. Current households should not be taxed for the waste discarded by other households years ago."
Small landfills
"Following recent changes, the CPRS will now potentially capture many small landfills because of the Government's fears of operators engaging in waste diversion. We believe such diversion is unlikely and there are better arrangements that could be used to mitigate against this happening.
"The effect of the new approach will be that a number of small landfills not previously intended to be included will now be covered by the scheme. This will needlessly cost country councils a lot more with little or no impact on reducing emissions", Cr Lake concluded.
- Contact
- Cr Geoff Lake, ALGA President - 0411 645 281
- Amanda Lynch, Director, Public Affairs 0419 123 862 / 02 6122 9434
