Waste and Resource Recovery Act 2022 (TAS)

In the Supreme Court of Tasmania, the case before the Court involved a dispute between the Secretary of the Department and an operator of a landfill facility over the calculation of the payable levy amount for a particular calendar month. The operator argued that the prescribed levy should not be applied to certain types of waste that were removed from the landfill facility and received by a resource recovery facility, as they did not meet the criteria for resource recovery. The legal issue before the Court was whether the prescribed levy should be applied to all waste removed from the landfill facility, regardless of whether it was received by a resource recovery facility or not. The Court held that the prescribed levy should be applied to all waste removed from the landfill facility, as the Act did not provide for any exclusions or exemptions from the levy. The Court further held that the operator was entitled to a rebate for each tonne of waste that was removed from the landfill facility and received by a resource recovery facility, as per the provisions of the Act. The Court ordered the operator to pay the payable levy amount for the relevant calendar month, less the rebate to which the operator was entitled. The Court also ordered that the Secretary of the Department could recover any amount payable under the Act in the Magistrates Court as a debt due and payable.