Page 4504 - Week 10 - Thursday, 23 September 2010

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Criteria for one-off fee waivers

I grant one-off fee waivers on public interest grounds according to whether it is in the public interest to grant the fee waiver. I look at the individual facts of each case. Often, I grant these where an organisation must bear the expense of cleaning up waste that it has not generated (eg. illegal dumping).

Concessions under contract

Concessional landfill rates and free allocations for contractors depend on each individual contract. The intention of these is to ensure that recycling is maximised. The exact nature of the concession varies from contract to contract and is negotiated as part of the contract negotiations.

(3) Several private businesses in the ACT recycle or reuse construction and demolition waste, including:

ACT Recycling Pty Ltd;

ACT Skip Hire;

Canberra Concrete Recyclers;

Cleanaway;

Combined Demolition;

Corkhill Brothers;

Delta group;

Handyman's Trading Post;

No Waste Woodbusters;

ReGyp;

Ritchies Bricks; and

Thor’s Hammer.

The Department of Territory and Municipal Services collects data from individual recycling businesses but this data is commercially sensitive and the Department undertakes to release it only in aggregated form. For this reason, I cannot provide advice about what proportion or what tonnes of construction and demolition waste each business recycles. Data is only released for the sector as a whole.

(4) Landfill fees are usually higher than the rates charged by businesses to recycle building waste. For instance, the standard commercial fee for waste to landfill in 2010-11 is $117.80 per tonne. Most commercial building waste recycling rates are lower than this. This means that generally, it is cheaper for organisations to have their building waste recycled than it is to send the material to landfill.

In addition to establishing a price incentive to recycle, the Department provides education about recycling options through its website, publications, media and responses to queries.

(5) Data for 2009-10 has not yet been finalised and released. In 2008-09, around 27,500 tonnes of construction and demolition waste were sent to landfill, or around 13% of the 214,000 tonnes sent to landfill that year.

ACT Brumbies
(Question No 1043)

Ms Le Couteur asked the Treasurer, upon notice, on 19 August 2010 (redirected to the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation):


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