Western Australia’s waste industry has been given a six-month reprieve from plans to quadruple landfill levy charges, which were outlined in the state budget released early May. Originally to take effect tomorrow (July 1), the state has bowed to pressure in the face of legal questions about the validity of the increase and now says the changes will not take effect until January 1, 2010.

Surprise plans for the massive increase were announced without consultation and gave waste operators just weeks to prepare for the changes. This (quite predictably) sparked vocal dissent in the west, with operators concerned they did not have enough time to implement the new cost structures and explain them to customers.

“Having received legal advice, the government has decided it is appropriate that prior to the proposed 300% increase in levies… the passage of the Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Amendment Bill 2009 should occur first,” Environment Minister Donna Faragher stated on June 23 – a week before the changes were due to come into effect.

“The government is confident that the legislation is valid and will provide for waste levy monies to be used for both waste related purposes and for the Department of Environment and Conservation to also utilise levy monies for broader environmental and conservation purposes.”

WA’s full hypothocation of the levy monies had been the envy of many waste operators on Australia’s eastern seaboard. However, a damaging article in The West recently highlighted issues with how those funds have been spent.

WA set up a statutory Waste Authority in 2007, but chairman Barry Carbon gave evidence to an Upper House committee inquiry into municipal waste management this March that the authority had not been appropriately resourced. His frustrations with the process appeared in mainstream news headlines earlier this month.

“The authority has no staff … So far despite significant negotiations and attempts over a nine-month period there are zero staff of the authority who are deemed to be officers of the Waste Authority,” he reportedly told the inquiry.

Carbon has also publicly questioned Treasury modelling of the extra revenue expected from the increased levy, suggesting the government has not accurately taken account of the reduced volumes likely when disposal costs jump up.

With the stop-start nature of the proposed levy changes already rankling the industry, frustration is also mounting over claims the government has been sitting on its draft Waste Strategy for some two months without releasing it for comment.

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