The Federal Government should follow Professor Garnaut's recommendations to exclude waste dumps from the early stages of a carbon trading scheme, according to the President of the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA), Cr Paul Bell.

Cr Bell has written to the Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Penny Wong, outlining why inclusion of the waste sector in the initial phase of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) would be 'complex and costly' for local government.

"There are many problems that need to be ironed out," Cr Bell said. "Professor Garnaut acknowledges this. His report released this week makes it clear that the early inclusion of emissions from waste dumps would be problematic due to the variability of these emissions and the timing of their release.

"The report recommends that before being covered in the scheme, other policies to encourage mitigation in the waste sector should be pursued."

 

Cr Bell said that local government should continue to work with the Australian Government on a number of outstanding technical issues which needed to be resolved before waste was included in the CPRS.