Darwin City Council's Waste Management Fee.
In the 2012 Budget DCC introduced a Waste Management Levy based upon, it says, the extra costs imposed by the Carbon Pricing Mechanism. It has used a Solid Waste Calculator proposed by the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) to calculate the average amount of organic waste produced by each household (commercial waste is exempted) multiplied by a decomposition factor and priced at $23 per tonne of CO2e.
A number of things are wrong with this process:
(1) DCC has used an average 50% greater than the CER standard thus inflating the amount of waste produced. It is in clear breach of the 'user pays' policy in that every household produces different amounts of waste,
(2) the Waste to Energy plant operated by LMS significantly reduces GHG emissions; the Fact Sheet from the CER states that emissions can be reduced by between 50 and 75% and therefore the price should be reduced to between $8 and $13 per tonne.
(3) the Council steadfastly refuses to measure actual emissions from the landfill site and will not simply increase methane capture to reduce emissions to below the threshold,
(4) the fee, based upon dubious assumptions, is being collected in advance. Payment to the Federal Government is not due until August 2013. If the actual liability is less than the fees collected, it's likely that the surplus will be included in general revenue.
The Carbon Farming Initiative is one of the key parts of the Federal Government’s plan for a Clean Energy Future and gives landfill operators the opportunity to earn carbon credits from abatement activities. Other councils are reaching toward carbon neutrality.
A number of things are wrong with this process:
(1) DCC has used an average 50% greater than the CER standard thus inflating the amount of waste produced. It is in clear breach of the 'user pays' policy in that every household produces different amounts of waste,
(2) the Waste to Energy plant operated by LMS significantly reduces GHG emissions; the Fact Sheet from the CER states that emissions can be reduced by between 50 and 75% and therefore the price should be reduced to between $8 and $13 per tonne.
(3) the Council steadfastly refuses to measure actual emissions from the landfill site and will not simply increase methane capture to reduce emissions to below the threshold,
(4) the fee, based upon dubious assumptions, is being collected in advance. Payment to the Federal Government is not due until August 2013. If the actual liability is less than the fees collected, it's likely that the surplus will be included in general revenue.
The Carbon Farming Initiative is one of the key parts of the Federal Government’s plan for a Clean Energy Future and gives landfill operators the opportunity to earn carbon credits from abatement activities. Other councils are reaching toward carbon neutrality.