A so-called “new” grant to councils hard hit by the Chinese National Sword recycling crisis was actually just the same funding that had already been announced, Local Government NSW (LGNSW) said today.
“It looks like Local Government and Environment Minister Gabrielle Upton is having a bit of a recycling crisis of her own,” LGNSW President Linda Scott said today.
“The Minister’s latest announcement boasts that her $9.5 million package will ‘blunt the Chinese Sword’ – but it’s just part of the $47.5 million rescue package she announced back in March.
“And even then the funding was recycled – it was simply diverted from funds already allocated to councils to better manage waste across NSW.
“Councils had already been granted that funding under the Waste Less Recycle More Program, and had factored it into their existing recycling and waste management budgets.
“But what is really disappointing is that the money was contributed by councils to the NSW Government as part of the waste levy.
“The NSW Government collected $659 million in waste levies in 2016/17, yet only 18 percent of the waste levies paid by local government were returned to local government.
“It’s even more disappointing when you look at the record NSW surplus, and the Government’s decision to spend billions of dollars on sporting stadiums in Sydney.”
