Media release – Roger Jaensch, Minister for Environment and Climate Change, 11 February 2023
Supporting charities with donation waste
An assistance program that will support charitable recycling organisations in Tasmania has officially been launched.
The Charitable Recycler Rebate Program will provide a rebate for landfill levy costs incurred in disposal of unusable items to landfill. Registered and approved charitable recyclers will receive a rebate of 100 per cent of the levy paid.
Environment and Climate Change Minister Roger Jaensch said the Program would help relieve landfill costs, further supporting the charitable recycling sector.
“The charitable recycling sector is often heavily impacted by illegal dumping, and the donation of items that cannot be reused or recycled must be taken to landfill,” Minister Jaensch said.
“Disposing items that cannot be reused or recycled costs charities money that could be spent elsewhere, to provide their important services to the community.”
Chairperson of the inaugural Waste and Resource Recovery Board, Pam Allan, said the rebate scheme was one of several assistance programs the Rockliff Liberal Government and the Board were putting in place.
“While the rebate will help offset the costs to charities, it is everybody’s responsibility to take a considered approach when donating their unwanted items,” Ms Allan said.
When donating unwanted items, Tasmanians are encouraged to ask themselves if they would give the item to a friend or buy it themselves, before making the donation.
Goods that are broken, unsafe, unusable or damaged will likely end up being landfilled.
Donations should only be taken to a depot during business hours. If donating at a charity bin, make sure the goods are placed inside the bin as goods left outside can be damaged.
Media release – Shane Broad MP, Shadow Treasurer, 11 February 2023
Bin Tax rebates an admission of failure from the Liberals
The Liberals’ announcement they will provide rebates to charities suffering as a result of their new bin tax is an admission their broken promise is imposing significant new costs across the community.
Labor warned during the debate last year that their bin tax would increase costs for not-for-profits and would lead to increased illegal dumping, and this is exactly what has now transpired.
Labor also warned the bin tax would increase costs for households and small businesses – but it is clear from today’s announcement they will get no relief whatsoever. This is a massive oversight given the significant cost of living pressures families and businesses are currently facing.
The Liberals went to the last election promising no new taxes. Since then they have forced council rates up with their new bin tax, and have sent electricity bills soaring with their $50 million power tax.
If the Liberals were serious about offsetting the cost of their bin tax, they could simply admit the policy will do nothing to reduce household waste, be true to their pre-election promise of “no new taxes”, and abolish the bin tax altogether.
Otherwise, with Tasmania’s debt at record levels and interest rates continuing to rise, Tasmanians will rightly wonder what other new taxes they are planning to fix their broken budget.
