Tasmania has released its first state-wide waste strategy setting out a framework to reduce waste, boost recycling and determine the best use of the state’s landfill levy.

The strategy, Tasmania: a place where nothing is wasted, lists integrated planning, strategic investment, partnerships and circularity as priorities.

It commits the government to investing in infrastructure, and boosting circular economy grants,levy rebates, education and skills development.

The strategy also provides guidance to the Tasmanian Waste and Resource Recovery Board and the state government on how the statewide landfill levy introduced last year should be reinvested.

Waste and Resource Recovery Board Chair Pam Allan says the document lays the ground for a ‘two part pivot’.

“The Strategy will see us develop a better understanding of product use, reuse, repair, and resource flows in Tasmania, support the development and adoption of new business models, and help to build the capacity of Tasmania  …  to work and innovate in this exciting space,” she says.

The second part, through 2027-2030, will apply the outcomes of stage one across government, industry and  the community.

Reinvesting the landfill levy

Ms Allan says the Board is developing an investment framework to ensure landfill levy funds are directed to where they will have the most impact.

“The landfill levy can by itself send out an appropriate price signal, but it will be how the accumulated funds are invested that will have the greatest and lasting impact. This Strategy provides the policy basis for future expenditure,” she says.

The Waste and Resource Recovery Board was created in 2022 following the introduction of the landfill levy to encourage the diversion of waste and increase resource recovery by investing the levy.

The Levy will have a staggered introduction over four years, starting at $20 per tonne, and rising to $40 and then $60 at two yearly intervals.

The rate of the levy is expressed in Government Fee Units. It’s set at 12 Fee Units from July 2022 to July 2024, when it will increase to 24 Fee Units. It will be set at 36 Fee Units from July 2026.

Tasmania currently landfills one tonne of waste per person each year.