Horsham recycling continues

Published on 16 February 2018

The impact of China’s ban on the importation of a range of materials is now being felt by the Horsham Rural City Council.

Technical services director John Martin said that whilst recycling services will continue, a significant cost increase is being passed on directly to Councils.  “Until now, our recycling contractor has received a payment for materials to the processor.  Visy Recycling has now introduced a gate fee on the processing of recyclable materials.  This will result in a processing cost increase of over $100 per tonne,” he said. 

Mr Martin said that this is an extreme cost increase and if it continues, will almost double the operating cost of Council’s recycling collection service. 

“At this stage, it’s only a temporary cost increase until the end of February, as the ongoing arrangements for processing of recyclable materials are still under negotiation.  Importantly, it still remains cheaper than disposing to landfill, and means that these valuable recycled resources will continue to be used effectively,” he said.

Mr Martin added that the impacts of changes in the recycling industry are only just starting to be felt and it is likely that more Councils across the State will be impacted during the weeks ahead.

“The Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) is working on behalf of Councils in negotiations with recycling processors, collection contractors and the State Government to help broker a resolution. This includes consideration of investment opportunities utilising the State’s Sustainability Fund, which is sourced from landfill levies paid by Councils for each tonne of material disposed to landfill.  The MAV estimates that if these negotiations are not successful, the potential exists for rate increases across the State on top of the Consumer Price Index of between 1% and 2.5%,” he said.