Overview
The 2025-26 State Budget allocates $49.9 million of the $79.8 million anticipated income from the Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Levy (WARR Levy) in 2025-26 to the Waste Strategy.
The only new spending initiative identified in the Budget is $750,000 over three years to support Plastic Free July. In line with WALGA’s extensive advocacy for wine and spirit bottles to be included in the Containers for Change program, the Budget also flags the State Government’s intent to extend the program to include wine and spirit bottles.
There are also Programs with carry over budgets from previous years, including the E-waste Landfill Ban, Recycling Modernisation Fund (focused on plastic and paper recycling) and Food Waste for Healthy Soils (focused on organic recycling).
WALGA Comment
WALGA is calling for all of the WARR Levy to be used to fund strategic waste initiatives, including:
- Regional Waste Management Planning and Infrastructure investment to ensure all regional waste management facilities are operating to meet better practice standards by 2030 (a target in the Waste Strategy)
- Covering the entire cost of Food Organics and Garden Organics FOGO implementation for Local Government, including funding to Local Governments that have already introduced FOGO
- Funding for Material Recovery Facility (MRF) infrastructure upgrades to ensure maximum recovery from the kerbside bin
- Increased funding for the WasteSorted Bin Tagging Program to support Local Governments to educate and engage the community in how to maximise resource recovery and reduce contamination
- Funding to establish and maintain a Commercial and Industrial Waste Program to engage and assist small to medium businesses to reduce their waste and improve their environmental performance, and
- Funding for the continuation of existing programs, including the Household Hazardous Waste Program and waste education.
Revenue from the WARR Levy is expected to decline with the Kwinana and Rockingham Waste to Energy Facilities coming online and the consequent reduction in waste going to landfill.
WALGA welcomes the State Government’s commitment to expand the Containers for Change Scheme and is advocating for this to occur from 2026, in line with our Advocacy Position.
