Landfill and waste facilities

Landfill and waste facilities – FAQs

Pre-collection activities – can costs associated with surveys to establish current volumes be reimbursed?

The cost of surveying a landfill facility before disposing of event related debris is ineligible under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).

  • The cost is seen as an ordinary operational cost of the facility.
  • Under the DRFA, only the extraordinary costs associated with loss of available air space due to the disposal of eligible Counter Disaster Operations (CDO) or Emergency Works (EWK) are eligible. For example:
    • CDO - household goods damaged by the event, or residential green waste clean-up. See Queensland Disaster Funding Guidelines (QDFG), Section 8.3
    • EWK - debris cleaned up from eligible essential public assets. See QDFG, Section 9.2.

When lodging a submission for the cost of lost airspace, council is required to provide evidence to support the claim, and where applicable, methodology for allocation across CDO and or EWK submissions.

Can loss of income associated with waived tip fees be reimbursed?

No. Loss of income associated with waived fees is ineligible under the DRFA.

Ineligible expenditure includes costs not directly related to the immediate response to the event, including consequential losses (e.g. business operations, loss of income). See Queensland Disaster Funding Guidelines, Section 8.3.5.

Are repairs to damaged landfill facilities eligible?

The cost associated with repairing damage to landfill facilities may be eligible under Reconstruction of Essential Public Assets (REPA) or Immediate Reconstruction Works where the landfill facility:

  • meets the DRFA definition of an essential public asset, i.e. the asset is owned and operated by council, and evidence demonstrates that services are provided free of charge or at a rate that is 50% or less of the cost to provide those services
  • can provide suitable evidence to demonstrate the damage was a direct result of the disaster event.
What’s the process/calculation of determining costs relating to extraordinary landfill activities?

Local councils across Queensland use varying fee-structures for the use of landfill facilities.

The process for tracking and determining eligible cost relating to extraordinary landfill activities should consider the source of the waste material. This will inform the submission type and eligibility criteria, either:

  • a) CDO - costs associated with the collection, management and disposal of residential waste, including event damaged household goods, residential hazardous materials or green waste
  • b) EWK – costs associated with the removal of flood related debris from eligible essential public assets (e.g. transport assets, roads and bridges).

Summary of eligibility and related costs

Cost type  CDO EWK
Ordinary council/day labour hours and plant
  • for the purposes of CDO, ordinary hours represent committed costs, and cannot be offset though DRFA
  • where directly associated with eligible EWK activities
Extraordinary labour (overtime)
  • where directly associated with eligible CDO activities
  • where directly associated with eligible EWK activities
Plant consumables, additional servicing
  • where directly associated with eligible CDO activities
  • where directly associated with eligible EWK activities
Lost air space – see evidence requirements below
  • to be apportioned if both CDO and EWK waste are being claimed
  • to be apportioned if both CDO and EWK waste are being claimed
Compensation for loss of profit associated with the exhausted landfill capacity
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Queensland Waste Levy The Waste Levy is not claimable through DRFA, and where required, council should request an exemption from the Department of Environment and Science (DES). The DES website outlines that councils can request that disaster waste be exempted from the levy. The Waste Levy is not claimable through DRFA, and where required, council should request an exemption from the Department of Environment and Science (DES). The DES website outlines that councils can request that disaster waste be exempted from the levy.

Note: With the exclusion of ordinary hours for day labour, which is ineligible under DRFA CDO, the sum total of operational costs divided by the capacity of the relevant landfill site/cell, provides a DRFA eligible compacted m3 (or tonnage) rate for the utilisation of the landfill facility’s capacity through CDO activities.

Evidence requirements

  • To ensure landfill costs can be claimed by council, suitable evidence should be provided. This may include:
    • evidence of volumes/tonnage of disposed landfill associated with the disaster (weigh-bridge logs, before/after, or periodic volumetric survey etc)
    • justification and evidence supporting the need and cost of capping, remediation and/or construction of additional cells
    • evidence demonstrating the incurred cost/liability (per m3 or tonne) associated with the specific landfill facility.