Govt blocks litter fine increase to focus on bigger picture

Sunday, 10 March 2019, 2:38 pm
Article: NZ Energy and Environment Business Week

Govt blocks litter fine increase says it is focussed on bigger picture

Originally published in Energy and Environment on March 7

The Government parties have voted down a National MP’s Bill which would have increased the maximum litter infringement fine from $400 to a maximum of $1000.

Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage said the fine was out of proportion to other fines and did not address wider problems with the Litter Act. Sage said reform of this was in the Government’s work programme but was of much lower priority than wider waste management action.

The sponsor of the Litter (Increased Infringement Fee) Amendment Bill, Scott Simpson said the $1000 would be a maximum that councils could impose and while it was not a “silver bullet”, it would make enforcement more financially viable and send a message to those who littered.

Parliament’s Environment Committee had recommended the Bill pass and Simpson suggested the change in position was down to partisanship.

Most councils were in favour of the Bill, though they all pointed out the problem with the Litter Act was not the level of fines, but that enforcement was legalistic and very difficult and expensive to administer.

When the Bill was sent to Select Committee, Ministers had expressed the hope it would look at wider issues around the litter law, however the committee did not do this and just looked at the level of the fine.

The Committee Chair Deborah Russell said she was persuaded of the view a fine of $1000 was too excessive in comparison to other infringements in the justice system

The Bill was voted down at second reading by Labour, Greens and NZ First.

During the debate Sage said the Bill was very narrow and didn’t deal with the real issues around littering and problems with the Litter Act, but this was not a priority.

“We are focusing on the bigger picture issues”. These included expanding the landfill levy and mandatory product stewardship schemes.

Released Cabinet paper show Sage’s work in these areas are slipping from original time lines.

A paper to ministerial colleagues in the middle of last year said a new regulatory regime for the Waste Disposal could be in place by early in 2019 with the staged implementation of expanding the number of landfills subject to the levy from class one (municipal) landfills to those accepting other types of waste, and then potentially changing the rate of the levy for all landfills.

The levy is currently set at $10 per tonne of waste disposed to landfill, and currently raises $33 million each year. Sage said waste levy rates set by circular economy leaders Finland, Netherlands and the UK are between $80 - $160 NZD per tonne and Local Government NZ has endorsed a rate of $140 per tonne. Independent modelling work has also used an upper figure of $140 per tonne.

Sage also said she was considering a differential rate for different types of waste and mandatory product stewardship schemes for priority product as part of moves to a circular economy.

A Ministry for the Environment contract tender for a project looking at the implications and opportunities for a transition to a circular economy closed this week.

This story originally published at https://energyandenvironment.net.nz/home.html. A subscriber only service covering the energy and environment sector.

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