Snowy Monaro Regional Council has introduced new charges for domestic recycling disposal and new green waste disposal at all council waste facilities.
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Mayor John Rooney said, "Recycling disposal fees have been in place for many years for commercial disposal at landfill and transfer stations.
"The cost of disposing recyclables is also incorporated into the annual fees applied to council kerbside collections and bank of bin services.
"Households throughout the region which receive kerbside recycling or green waste collection have always paid for both the collection and disposal via charges included in their annual rates notice," he said.
Council cites the introduction of the 'China Sword Policy' as creating significant challenges in the recycling industry nationally, causing the value of many types of processed recyclables to be affected and changes now imposed by countries that previously accepted various types of Australia's recycled products.
"For council to continue to provide the community with access to recycling services, it was considered that some additional fees would be required to assist in offsetting the costs involved," Clr Rooney said.
"The costs involved in providing waste and recycling services and facilities are funded from income generated from those activities - no General Rate income is allocated to cover waste and recycling activities.
"Council does understand the importance of recycling and the benefits it brings to the environment and we continue to encourage the community to recycle. Lower charges apply for recyclables than for waste disposal," Clr Rooney said.
Council's 2020 Schedule of Fees and Charges was adopted by council at its meeting of June 20 following consideration of community feedback received through the public exhibition period in May.
The 2020 Schedule of fees and charges can be viewed on council's website: www.snowymonaro.nsw.gov.au or on council's Facebook page.