Chinese garbage import policy to hit NSW councils

A major change to China's national policy on garbage and recyclable materials is expected to soon threaten Sydney's kerbside rubbish collection, with councils warning the changes will put them under pressure.

China is the largest importer of recyclable materials from Australia, but its new environmental restrictions – known as the National Sword policy – place tough limits on what kinds of materials may be imported.

The changes are being assessed by Australian policymakers but Local Government Minister Gabrielle Upton says councils can expect a stockpiling of kerbside waste for at least the short term.

A change in Chinese policy could affect the way councils arrange their kerbside waste collection.Credit: Michele Mossop

Ms Upton is pushing for a co-ordinated response among the states but last week announced a policy to help councils through the transition: a $47-million recycling “rescue package” designed to overhaul the way kerbside pick-ups run.

The one-off state government funding package aims to help councils overhaul their tender processes for waste management to better encourage recycling of waste left by the side of the road, to educate residents about not contaminating kerbside waste and to offset some of the costs of additional pick-ups.

But Linda Scott, the head of Local Government NSW, has said the government needs to do more to promote the onshore processing of waste rather than raiding existing recycling funds to meet changes in Chinese import policy.

Ms Scott said waste collection was a major loss for most councils and they did not receive a fair share of the taxes for waste collection.

“The NSW Government collected $659 million in waste levies in 2016/17, yet only 18% of the waste levies paid by local government were returned to local government,” she said.

Ms Scott called for the remainder of the levies to be taken from the state government’s consolidated revenue and used for programs that supported local recycling.

But the state’s funding includes more than $9 million for local industry and councils to jointly back projects finding new uses for recyclable materials, or by reducing the waste left at the end of the recycling process.

Ms Upton said she had met with industry and councils to discuss how they could best be compliant with the new Chinese restrictions on waste importation.