Tip costs set to rocket

The cost of dumping household waste at the tip will rocket 150 per cent in four years, according to figures showing the full extent of increases to the State Government's landfill levy.

The costs to businesses of dumping construction and demolition waste will increase an eye-watering 775 per cent within the same period, which is likely to bump up the cost of a new home.

Just weeks after the State Budget outlined major increases to landfill levy rates, the Department of Environment Regulation has revealed further rises over and above those announced on May 8.

Under the changes outlined in the Budget, the landfill levy for putrescible, or household, waste will be lifted from January 1 from $28 a tonne to $55.

In addition, the levy for inert waste, which is typically construction and demolition material, will jump from $8 a tonne to $40 at the beginning of next year.

The moves are forecast to generate $202 million in the next four years, most of which will go to Treasury as consolidated revenue.

In Budget estimates last week, Environment Minister Albert Jacob let slip the rises were only the start and would be followed by further increases in each of the following years.

DER figures show the cost of dumping a tonne of putrescible waste will increase $70 by July 2018, while it will be the same for inert waste.

WA Local Government Association president Troy Pickard said councils, which invariably collected household waste, would be forced to pass on the increases.

This would amount to an extra $26 a year from January 1, rising in line with the forecast rises in the levy.

However, Mr Pickard said the changes provided "long-term upsides" because they would encourage recycling and reduce landfill, while he also welcomed the certainty surrounding them.

Mr Jacob said burying waste was seen as the "easiest and cheapest" way of dealing with it but this was unsustainable.