Councils could face financial black holes as uncertainty over the recycling crisis drags on.
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In many cases, it’s ratepayers footing most of the bill, with draft council budgets across the state hiking up waste charges in the wake of China’s decision to lift its standards on recyclables earlier this year.
In Warrnambool, waste charges will rise to $356 per property from $287, in Corangamite it’s gone from $296.50 to $360.
Moyne Shire has kept its rise to $14.50 per property, drawing from its waste reserve to cover most of the cost.
Glenelg Shire has also flagged a modest 2.22 per cent rise ($6) to $270 per property. However, it is predicting rises of about 4 per cent over the following three years to raise about $100,000 extra per year.
Southern Grampians’ waste charges will rise from $257 to $263 per property.
While councils are setting their price when it comes to how much it will pass on to ratepayers, there is no certainty that local government will not face future price rises this year.
Warrnambool City chief executive officer Bruce Anson said recyclables had gone from a commodity with value to something councils now had to pay to get rid of.
“We started off at the start of the year paying nothing for our recyclables. The contractor got the recyclables and they had been paid by Visy for the recyclables,” he said.
“Now it’s swung around that Visy are now not paying the contractor for the recyclables and they’re now charging the contractor $60. For us, it’s gone from no dollars per tonne to $130 a tonne. We have serious concerns that… it will go higher again.”
Moyne Shire director of sustainable development Oliver Moles said when it came to the recycling issue “nobody really knows what the future holds”.
“We will subsidise or supplement the cost out of our reserve for this year until we see what the market is doing and whether the state government (provides more leadership and support),” he said. “There is talk about needing to reform the waste sector and setting up new ways to deal with waste… lots of talk but it’s going to take time to achieve all these different ideas.
“At the moment for a year Moyne is essentially doing its best to lessen the burden on our ratepayers, whereas some other councils, for whatever reason, are passing on the costs in a higher sense.
“Moyne is just trying to keep our head above the water and not hurt our ratepayers too much with the changes that are occurring.
“Largely they are being driven beyond our control by international markets and private sector companies and the way they do business. It’s very hard for us to be definitive given the situation.”
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