WA: Little money spent on recycling

A contentious levy slugged on households and businesses that is meant to boost WA's poor recycling record has been largely unspent.

The surplus of cash has prompted the Opposition to claim the Barnett Government is botching waste management efforts.

Financial statements from the Waste Authority, the Government agency charged with lowering WA's landfill rate, show its coffers swelled from $15.5 million to $18.3 million in the 12 months to June 30.

The increase came after the Waste Authority failed to spend about $3 million from the $10.5 million it collected from the landfill levy, which is applied to household and industrial waste going to tips.
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It means less than half of the Waste Authority's budget, which comes almost entirely from landfill levy receipts, was spent on recycling initiatives in 2011-12.

This was despite WA having the worst recycling record of any State or Territory and the levy's supposed objective of reducing landfill rates.

Environment Minister Bill Marmion maintained the Government had an "ambitious" plan to double recycling rates in WA by 2020 and intended to spend $65 million on initiatives over the next five years.
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York anger over city waste plan
Avon Valley residents are fighting plans to dump up to 150,000 tonnes of rubbish a year near York.

Plan critics fear it will create environmental hazards, cut tourist numbers and create traffic chaos on Great Southern Highway as trucks cart the waste from Perth.