Tip Fees to Rise if Mindarie Council Agrees

The council, which manages waste from the cities of Wanneroo, Joondalup, Stirling, Perth and Vincent, plus the towns of Cambridge and Victoria Park, is proposing to set its member gate fee at $155 for 2015-16, up from $138.50.

“This increase in the members’ gate fee is driven primarily by the 68,267 tonne (20.7 per cent) reduction in tonnes received from members,” a report on the July 2 agenda said.

The report said non-|member fees for individuals or companies taking waste to the Tamala Park tip would also increase from $170.60 a tonne to $177.27.

“The non-members’ gate fee has been increased by an inflationary increment ($6.67 per tonne or 3.9 per cent) for the first time in four years, recognising that the strategy of holding the non-members’ gate fee constant is being ineffective at drawing commercial tonnes back to Tamala Park,” it said. “Changes between the 2014-15 and 2015-16 budgets include the decrease in expected non-member tonnes from 35,450 to 20,856 tonnes based on current year trends.

The report said the City of Stirling’s three-bin system, which will start on June 29, would also result in the MRC receiving 59,174 fewer tonnes from that council, while the closure of Wanneroo’s recycling centre in Wangara had reduced residues received by 7700 tonnes annually.

Aiming to achieve a $1.55 million surplus next financial year, the report said other changes included lower employee costs, higher consultant and contractor costs, and the State Government’s higher landfill levy.

Compared with 329,593 tonnes delivered in 2014-15, the MRC expects member councils to deliver about 261,000 tonnes in 2015-16, with 75,000 tonnes of that diverted to the Neerabup resource recovery facility.

Once processed, about 36,525 tonnes would return to Tamala Park as residue.

Representatives from MRC’s seven member councils will meet at the City of Stirling offices on July 2 to consider the 2015-16 budget.