How are skip bin prices affected by Landfill Levies in Melbourne?

Victorian Landfill Levies do affect the price of your skip bin because when the waste is taken to a landfill the skip bin company disposing of the waste will have to pay the Landfill Levy which will be part of the disposal costs unless the landfill is not licensed.

And the bottom line is that all landfill sites need to be licensed or approved by the Victorian Environmental Protection Authority unless they are constructed for smaller population centers.  If the municipal landfill is going to serve less than 500 people, only a works approval is needed. If the municipal landfill is going to serve less than 5,000 people, a licence is needed.

For residential and commercial skip bin customers in Melbourne your skip bins are going to get emptied at Landfills where they are commercial operations and/or they are serving populations greater than 5,000 people.

OK that is the simple part of the skip bin Landfill Levy explanation. Even though the Landfill levies are levies paid on all waste disposed of at licensed landfills in Victoria the way they are calculated and applied seems very difficult to understand. Levy funds are used exclusively for environment protection activities, including promoting the sustainable use of resources and best practices in waste management which seems very good. My only concern is that if they were doing such good why wouldn't you want to make it easy for consumers of these service to understand how they were calculated and what they were spent on?

The Victorian Government adjust the Landfill Levy each year (always upwards, surprisingly) on July the 1st. The Government increases are usually Gazetted (published) in April so the Landfill Operators know well before the 1st July what is happening to the levy and can adjust the prices they will charge the skip bin companies and rubbish removers. If we have understood this correctly the fees are set based on a unit fee that has a value. For example the value of a fee unit is $13.60 for 2015 to 2016. The amount payable on each tonne of waste deposited at a site is calculated by multiplying the Unit fee with a Multiplier based on the type of waste.  In Metro and Provincial area the multipliers are:
Municipal Waste:    4.45
Industrial Waste:    4.45

In Rural locations the multipliers are: 
Municipal Waste: 2.23
Industrial Waste: 3.90

So for skip bin companies in  or around Melbourne the Landfill Levy is $60.52 per tonne.  Compared to NSW this is a very low cost, so make the most of it before the Government realises.  Typically for skip bins to dispose of household waste there is going to be about 150 to 200 Kg (or 0.15 to 0.2 tonne) of waste per cubic meter.  So on a 2 cubic meter bin it will only costing you less than $25.  Where it might hurt a bit more is if you had a heavy waste bin with soil, sand and/or bricks and concrete in it. These heavy bins can weigh up to 1.5 tonne a cubic meter. That would mean on a 2 cubic meter skip bin in Melbourne you would be paying around $189.  The good news is you can do something to reduce this amount.

The purpose of the Landfill Levy is to encourage Victorians to avoid sending to landfills.  To avoid the Landfill Levy look out for Melbourne Skip Bins that are for specific types of waste that are going to be recycled. These skip bins usually have their material sent to recycling with avoids the Landfill Levy and saves you money.