Waste Levy
In 2024/25, the 11 Hunter and Central Coast councils paid $116m in waste levy to the NSW Government, with only $5.9m or 5% of what was collected returned to these local governments to implement waste management activities.
The waste levy is a payment collected by the NSW Government on every tonne of waste landfilled in many parts of the state. First implemented in NSW in 1971, it was intended to reduce waste sent to landfill while also funding the infrastructure, education and innovation needed to transition to a circular economy.
However, this revenue is currently shifted into the NSW Government’s Consolidated Fund and only a small portion is reinvested into waste and circular economy infrastructure or programs.1 This limits our councils’ ability to invest in waste infrastructure, improve resource recovery rates, prepare for new policy reforms, and deliver the NSW Government’s circular economy objectives.
For example, councils are required to deliver Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) for households, meet resource recovery targets, tackle illegal dumping, reduce landfill emissions and meet stringent environmental compliance requirements, increasing costs and resourcing needs.
However, councils operate in a revenue constrained environment and NSW funding support has not kept up with expanding obligations.
In other states, similar waste levy arrangements have greater transparency and stronger legislation or policies that ensure a meaningful portion of the revenue collected is reinvested into waste, resource recovery, or other sustainability programs. For example:
- In South Australia, a minimum of 50% of the waste levy collected must be paid into the Green Industry Fund. This fund can only be used for climate change, waste, and environmental protection initiatives.2
- In Victoria, waste levy revenue is held in the Sustainability Fund and can only be used for sustainable resource use, waste management, and climate change initiatives.3
- In Queensland, the Government provides an annual payment to councils in the levy zone to offset the costs to households.4
The lack of similar legislative or policy protections over the waste levy in NSW has led to inadequate reinvestment.
As NSW continues to grow and waste generation increases, greater reinvestment of the waste levy is needed to support the development of waste and resource recovery infrastructure, innovation, environmental protections, and community education.
Click the image to view the pdf.
