Port Macquarie-Hastings Council supports Save our Recycling campaign

The Save our Recycling campaign concept was unanimously endorsed at the 2018 Local Government NSW Conference.

Port Macquarie-Hastings Council agreed at its April meeting to sign up to the campaign to advocate for 100 per cent of the waste levy collected by the state government to be reinvested in waste avoidance, recycling and resource recovery.

Cr Peter Alley said it was worthwhile for Port Macquarie-Hastings Council to join the campaign.

Save our Recycling aims to solve the recycling and waste crisis at no extra cost to taxpayers.

The state government collects $727 million each year from industry, councils and businesses through the waste levy.

Only 18 per cent of the $300 million collected annually from local government was returned to councils to reinvest in recycling and waste management.

Port Macquarie-Hastings Council will have paid almost $21.2 million in the waste levy from July 1, 2014 to June 2019.

The council report said since the Waste Less Recycle More grants opened, for the same time period, the council received almost $1.5 million from eight contestable grants and $585,764 from the non-contestable Better Waste and Recycling Fund grant stream.

The funding was used to assist with waste management and recycling infrastructure, programs and education.

The council asked general manager Craig Swift-McNair to make representations to MPs Leslie Williams and Melinda Pavey in support of the Save our Recycling campaign.

Mr Swift-McNair was also asked to write to the NSW Premier, Minister for Local Government, Minister for the Environment and the opposition leader and shadow ministers seeking support for the 100 per cent reinvestment of the waste levy collected each year into waste avoidance, recycling and resource recovery.

"Policy direction and investment by the NSW state government is essential to reduce future risk to Australia's recycling systems - to improve facilities, establish some level of onshore reprocessing and establish national markets for reuse of recycled products," the council report said.

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