by frog
Nandor gave his second reading speech on the Waste Minimisation Bill last night.
It retains the financial driver of the original bill – the levy on waste going to landfill. It is a blunt attempt at a pigovian tax, to internalise environmental externalities. The New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development suggested that it would take a levy of around $30 a tonne to do that. The bill starts at $10 a tonne, with a review after 2 years and then reviews at least every 3, and there is a widespread expectation that the levy will rise to around $30.
The fund generated by the levy will be split 50-50 between local authorities and a national contestable fund. It can only be spent on waste minimisation initiatives, and there are powers to withhold funds from councils if the money is being diverted to other things.
This money will help to make recycling more available through research, seed funding, capital investment, and the like, and also fund better public information about how to recycle, because New Zealanders want to recycle.
Not long after Nandor’s speech Parliament voted overwhelmingly, 111 to 7, to allow the Bill to pass the second of its 3 readings. Nandor has taken an initially controversial but important piece of legislation and created a near political consensus. And now it’s nearly law.
Incidentally you’ll note that those votes only add up to 118. One party which has been very outspoken on waste recently didn’t turn up to vote.
Published in Environment & Resource Management | Parliament | Video by frog on Thu, June 19th, 2008
Tags: , Nandor Tanczos, Waste, Waste Minimisation Bill
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
frog said: One party which has been very outspoken on waste recently didn’t turn up to vote.
I presume Rodney must have been taking more dancing lessons and Heather away on Territorials duty again.
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Great, just what we need, another tax.
I am sure some Green told me that their tax policy was “neutral”, seems that was a lie.
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no..hide is playing a dwarf in a production of snow white and the seven dwarfs..
(i kid you not..!..)
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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Is this Bill modelled on the Canterbury’s intiatives? If so it is yet another example of Canterbury’s progressivemess going unacknowledged by the rest of the country.
On the bright side, if the inititaitives funded by the levee include a database to connect waste producers with waste consumers then it should be effective. This seems to have been the crucial element of the Canterbury approach. The factory I work in sells much of it’s plastic and other waste to companies that value having a regular supply of clean sorted material.
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What have the Greens ever promoted that did not cost us money?
Frog, how much of our money do you want us to keep, or would you rather us give it all to the Govt for them to distribute as they see fit.
People are getting real sick of politicians putting their hands in our pockets. I am not going to pay to have my call phone disposed, I will put it in the bin instead along with my mercury containing bulbs.
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GW Denier said: People are getting real sick of politicians putting their hands in our pockets. I am not going to pay to have my call phone disposed, I will put it in the bin instead along with my mercury containing bulbs.
And some people are getting really sick of your posts GW Denier! If you are not prepared to take any environmental responsibility, why don’t you just blog with Whale Oil and leave us alone.
And wait for the law to change, and then be prosecuted as a criminal.
Because, despite some of the murders highlighted over the last couple of weeks, crimes against the environment are still the worst crimes. They don’t just kill one person, but potentially thousands or even millions of people.
Wanna sniff on the Agent Orange or the depleted uranium GW Denier – know what I mean?
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big bro, you’re losing your touch. Need to be more subtle. Your more outrageously stupid stuff just isn’t getting a bite.
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BB, this is in tax terminology a pigovian tax.
It applies only on what waste you dump into landfills. It is an incentive to minimise waste. If you can minimise it completely you won’t pay any waste levy. If you can’t, put some pressure on your suppliers to do so – I’ll support you in that.
Simple really. Chuck it away and you pay. Don’t get it in the first place, or find something useful to do with it when you do, then you won’t.
Could be the the beginning of the end of the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging immortalised in one of Peter Gabriel’s earlier works BB.
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One simple step:
- if you buy an item in vacuum-formed plastic, check for a recycle symbol with a 1 or 2 in it on the packaging. If it doesn’t have that, then you can’t recycle it (in Christchurch anyway), so you could be stuck with it. Unwrap it and leave the packaging in the shop! Be nice about it, such as asking where you can dispose of it since you don’t need it. That will encourage them to ask their suppliers to either cut down on the packaging or to use recyclable packaging. Just keep the receipt.
Trevor.
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Two Questions
What’s the Green position on noisey exhauts (95 decibells is equivalent to being 1/2 meter from a four stroke motor mower on full bore).
Do the Greens agree with Hone Harawira that poverty is the cause of tagging (i see the greens opposed the tagging bill).
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“I am not going to pay to have my call phone disposed, I will put it in the bin instead along with my mercury containing bulbs.”
…and afterwards why not go and tag your neighbour’s fence, throw your litter on the pavement and turn your stereo up as loud as it’ll go. That will give you even more chances to moan about the government interfering in your sad little life.
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The Greens position on taxes, as I understand it, is to shift the balance of taxation, so “bad” activities attract more taxation that “good” activities.
The problem of implementing Greenish policies in a Red (or probably a Blue) environment is that only the “take” part of the equation is implemented; the “give” bit gets left behind…
Thus the perception that the Greens want to raise taxes is fully justifiable by the practice they support. Even though they would really rather it wasn’t.
Sam – where did that quote come from? Cellphone disposal costs should (using the European WEEEeeee model) be included in the purchase costs…
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From GW, that useful person (maybe just a troll?). You don’t have to pay to dispose of your cellphone anyway, can just drop it at a telecom store.
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Toad – you said
‘And wait for the law to change, and then be prosecuted as a criminal.
Because, despite some of the murders highlighted over the last couple of weeks, crimes against the environment are still the worst crimes. They don’t just kill one person, but potentially thousands or even millions of people.’
Batteries are full of heavy metals which occur naturally anyway. There will always be a background level of Ni, Cd etc. The way things are going we will soon get taxed for breathing air, Koyto is the closet the communists (aka environmentalists) have got to this.
A couple of weeks ago I met a eco warrior who said the only problem with earth is there are too many humans by half. I asked what he was going to do about it but he did not want to be in the half sacrificed. Taking of human life is worse than pollution, ask the familes of the 3 people killed by our poo coloured cousins in the past 2 weeks.
Also, when are you going to address the fact the earth has not warmed in 7 years, instead of 1 off events like the Antarctic ice shelf breaking. Apparently there is more ice in Antarctica in the past few years.
Also, on arrests, why should I get arrested when dope head Nandor does not for openly saying he smokes da weed man. He is breaking the law, is he not?
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Are you just a big piss-taker??
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I am often reminded by Toad and co that the Green position on taxation is neutral, they suggest that they will tax “bad things” more and compensate in other areas.
Now that might be all well and good but NOWHERE have I seen anything that tells me where the Greens are going to compensate or reduce taxes to make up for the increase in other area’s.
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Watch this space BB!
Everyone is calling for parties to release policy, and I would really love to know what the Gnats’ policy is in some areas (particularly re climate change and peak oil).
But the Gnats are biding their time, as are the Greens – it’s the tactic of keeping eveyone wondering for a while, so when you do release it you get the biggest media splash possible – and just hope you’ve worked it out properly in the first place.
I suspect the Greens will reveal more detail by the time of the election than the Gnats will though!
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Toad
“Everyone is calling for parties to release policy, and I would really love to know what the Gnats’ policy is in some areas (particularly re climate change and peak oil).”
What do you expect them to do?, wave a magic wand and say “go away nasty climate change”
“But the Gnats are biding their time, as are the Greens – it’s the tactic of keeping eveyone wondering for a while, so when you do release it you get the biggest media splash possible – and just hope you’ve worked it out properly in the first place.”
So I assume I will not see you have a crack at Comrade Key for not releasing policy?
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GW Denier: Your most recent comment above does not justify being dignified with a response.
Put up some arguments, not just labeling and abuse.
You are getting as bad as dad4justice. Hey, maybe you ARE dad4justice!!!
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BB said: So I assume I will not see you have a crack at Comrade Key for not releasing policy?
No, that would not be a good assumption BB. But, at the same time, I accept that he is quite entitled to have a crack at the Greens for not releasing policy.
All parties plan this tactically. Just wait for the Greens to release our population policy. We’ll be the only party to have one.
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“Just wait for the Greens to release our population policy. We’ll be the only party to have one.”
Less or more Toad?
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Less, globally. NZ can cope with some (but not a lot) more. It’s all about the ecological carrying capacity of the land.
Think that’s enough detail for now or I might have some Green MPs giving me a proverbial spanking (trust they would be never give me a physical one BB)!
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Perhaps you can tell me more about this when I am in Wellington early next month.
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You might not need to wait till then BB. Take a look at this graph!
Now, which of the countries in the top 50 on this list have the ecological capacity to continue sustaining their current birth rates for another 50 or 100 years? They really do need to get those birth rates down, or will have populations facing mass starvation.
New Zealand does have some spare ecological capacity, and can cope with limited immigration, as long as all the immigrants don’t end up in Auckland, which is another issue.
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Ahmm Toad
What the hell has that got to do with my trip to Wellington?, I am coming down to see family as and far as I know I am not going to be doing anything that will increase the birth rate given that Mrs Bruv is staying up here.
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Actually, I don’t live in Wellington, so was all a bit of a joke anyway BB!
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That graph says an awful lot about the effectiveness of China’s one-child policy. 61st lowest birthrate in the World! Closely followed by Iceland and New Zealand.
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You dont?…I guess not everybody is that lucky then.
Don’t tell me you are a bloody Cantab?
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Re Antarctic Ice area
http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/current.365.south.jpg
Ice area is above the 1979-200 mean by about 1M sq km. Probably be called a denialist site?
NZ does have ‘spare ecological. capacity. For immigration we need to target people(s) who will benefit NZ, not un-educated sand dwellers who are looking for an economic migration. We have had a lot of poor immigrants in the past 20 years.
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BB said: Perhaps you can tell me more about this when I am in Wellington early next month.
Actually, I might be in Wellington early next month. Very early, 1 July actually, to see Russel Norman’s maiden (or virgin) speech.
Now, before anyone accuses me of excessive carbon emissions just to witness a significant Green event, I should say that I need to go to Wellington sometime early July for my work anyway, so this seems good timing.
If you are in the gallery for Russel’s speech too BB, catch up with me. I have a short whitening beard and fading red hair. We could even spend some time summoning up the spirits to get Sue Kedgley’s Bill re banning sow crates and battery chickens drawn from the Members’ Bill ballot!
I think Russel’s speech will be at 5.30pm on 1 July.
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you could ‘get a room’..
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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phil u: don’t be sleazy. Even with yours I wouldn’t go there!
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Kevyn
No it wasn’t’ Mike Ward original Bill was replaced by an SOP that originated thru a 2005/06 workshop involving MfE, LGNZ, key industry stake holders and Auckland councils following Waitakere, North Shore and Rodney councils losing a high court case in 2005. That’s where the bill as it is today came from. In fact Gary Moore nearly cost councils their 50% so you cantabs shouldn’t pat yourself on the back too hard!
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Southern Hemisphere sea ice area eh GW…Antarctica is a land mass though. ‘Volume’ is also a useful measure.
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Denier
Let me point out the obvious… (at least it is obvious to the climate scientists). Climate change does not and never has, meant that ALL of the atmosphere and the planet will respond to the AVERAGE temperature change linearly or simply. The models almost without exception point at a COOLER Antarctic while the rest of the planet warms rather more. That’s just exactly what we expect.
Understanding more of the science instead of pointing at some isolated event within it, and ignoring the relevant predictions, would be a very good idea.
BJ
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BJ – Ice breaking from Antarctica is also an isolated event. Models say that the Arctic/Antarctic should warm faster but the Antarctic has not.
According to GisTemp no warming in 7 years. This is the dodgy siter ran by Jim Hansen of NASA
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Patrick Starr, Excuse my ignorance on the details, but what 50% are you referring to? “In fact Gary Moore nearly cost councils their 50%”
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