An organisation such as Para Kore will benefit from the increased landfill levy announced this week. The Government’s waste management fund will boost iwi and community organisations that are trying to protect Papatūānuku.
Para Kore General Manager Jacqui Forbes told Te Āo Māori News the general waste per-person has almost doubled since 2010.
“It’s the best thing ever and is the one single most effective tool to decrease waste,” Forbes says.
In August, Para Kore was given the green tick to receive $528,000 from the Government to expand its marae-based programme to four new regions.
The latest funding announced by Associate Minister for Environment Eugenie Sage intends to minimise waste whilst encouraging successful organisations like Para Kore to expand their mahi.
“Imagine if we had a nation where every town or every suburb had their own resource recovery centre.”
The current $10 per tonne is proposed to increase to $50 or $60 per tonne by mid-2023.
In the Government’s proposal, the Waste Minimisation Fund may have hundreds of millions of dollars available to support councils, community organisations and businesses to reduce waste.
Auckland Councillor and Chair for the Environment and Climate Change Richard Hills hopes that the cost won’t affect people too much.
“People are putting out less waste and the price is going up - it could end up evening out,” Hills says.
The new levy could increase the cost of kerbside rubbish bags by about 33 cents. However, it is all dependent on individual council decisions.
“We can work with the Government to make sure that if they're imposing this levy which we support because it's about reducing waste that they're also thinking about that cost on vulnerable people in our community.”