Eugenie Sage’s proposed six-fold increase in the levy rate for landfills will not only cost households more but lead to more illegal dumping, National’s Environment spokesperson Scott Simpson says.
The plan was a key policy in the Government’s Waste Discussion Document released today.
“The proposal will have perverse outcomes on both the environment and New Zealanders’ back pockets,” Mr Simpson says.
“Fly tipping is already a huge problem in New Zealand, and knee jerk price hikes like this will only make it worse.
“Sadly people will realise it’s cheaper and easier to dump their rubbish over a bank or into the bush rather than paying the exorbitant fee to use their local tip.
“People in some parts of the country are already paying close to $200 per tonne at their landfill. This will only drive the price even higher.
“Meanwhile expanding the number of landfills to which the levy applies is a belated follow-through on plans National had already announced in Government.
“Eugenie Sage should be investigating practical ways of addressing our waste problem like waste to energy systems used in other countries. Instead she seems happy to indulge her ideological preferences and hit the tax button.”
