Landfill Hidden Cost

Abstract

Landfill sites have several long-term future costs which continue well beyond operational closure. Historically, small regional and remote councils are less likely to make adequate provision for these costs due to forecasting complexity and regulatory change. There is a need for these councils to adequately account for future costs to ensure accurate financial reporting and good governance. The provisioning for landfill restoration involves three critical elements. There are the legislative and environmental requirements, service obligations to the community and underpinning this, financial obligations. "Local councils have an obligation to ensure they carefully plan for the remediation of landfill operations and as such must give due consideration to post closure care of these sites. As this responsibility comes at a significant cost to councils, there would be considerable value in taking the time to review your current practices to provide yourself with the confidence that this aspect of your operations and planning for post closure remediation is able to be fully considered by Councils, so they can take appropriate steps to minimise the risk to their future financial sustainability." Robert Ferguson, LGAQ Lead Public Health and Waste. Some councils may have operating and closed landfill sites that give rise to an obligation to rehabilitate and provide after care site management. This may involve, long-term environmental monitoring of sites into the future (30+ years). The liability can be significant, and the correct measurement and treatment of cost is vital to ensure financial reports are accurate. Good governance and accurate reporting for landfill sites may also be achieved through the preparation of a restoration accounting model. The preparation of a detailed closure and post closure care plan for the waste disposal site may provide some clarity around timing costs for landfill restoration and monitoring. Accounting for landfill is a technically complex accounting method which gives rise to several specific challenges for councils. These challenges may include identifying the landfill sites and understanding their key characteristics, determining the costs associated with aftercare management and determining costs associated with rehabilitation. This can be a complex and time-consuming task for councils who do not have access to in-house resources and expertise. Interestingly, the landfill licence may require post closure care at a site to extend for a nominal period of 30 years. This period commences at the cessation of waste disposal activities and continues in effect until it can be demonstrated to the administering authority that the area used for waste disposal will not release contaminants into the environment. Councils operate as the tier of government closest to the community (where they work and live), and as such, they should be committed to ensuring they meet their legislative, environmental and community responsibilities pertaining to the management and remediation of landfill sites. This presentation will explore the various cost implications of operating landfill sites from development to post closure and will look at other alternative options such energy from waste and landfill solar as a means of offsetting the significant cost of operating waste facilities.