The Waste Management Act 2008 was brought in to reduce the amount of waste disposed of by applying a levy of $10 per tonne (excluding GST) on all waste sent to municipal landfills. However, while waste volumes have been reduced with more waste recovered and recycled in some other countries, in New Zealand, the volume of waste sent to landfills has been steadily increasing. One reason behind this is that significant quantities of waste from construction and demolition have not been subject to the levy.
In July 2021, the government began a process of increasing and expanding the cover of the waste disposal levy. The levy will be increased in stages until it reaches $60 per tonne at municipal landfills in July 2024.
The levy scheme is expanding to cover additional landfill types, including construction and demolition fill. Construction and demolition fill (class 2) now attracts a levy of $20 per tonne and this will rise to $30 per tonne by July 2024. For managed and controlled fill facilities (class 3 and 4), a levy of $10 per tonne has applied since July 2023.
You can read more about the waste disposal levy on the Ministry for the Environment website.
