Our farmers and small industry will not be able to maintain a viable living. Times are going to get very tough. We will need to stop buying new products and recycle everything. Not a harship for those who are used to it - but certainly for those who aren't.
For years I dug up huge lumps of asbestos and bottles in my garden that the previous owners had buried. Obviously the facilities for recycling and land fill weren't available decades ago. We've made such inroads into disposing of toxins - now we're going to regress to the 40's.
In one of the biggest increases since July 1, the cost of hiring mini skip bins has risen by at least $100, or 25 per cent, due to the green levy and a new state government waste charge.
The controversial federal tax, changes to the diesel fuel rebate and a big spike in refrigerant gas costs - all part of the government's clean energy reforms - have also driven up prices of vegetables, seafood and even pizza boxes.
Skip bin operators have warned that some home owners have already opted to illegally dump their waste to escape the hefty price rises.
Sydney Skip Bins owner Craig Wills said customers were furious when told of the increases and he had already had to lay off two workers.
"This is utterly disastrous," Mr Wills, an environmental scientist, said.
"On some of our bins it is now costing us more to dispose of the rubbish than we are getting back. I'm trying to do the right thing and I'm getting punished for it. And so are families."
Larger bins, holding five cubic metres, have risen from $530 to hire to as much as $730.
In a double whammy for home renovators, the state government has lifted its waste levy from $13 a tonne at landfill sites to an average of $96 a tonne. Other industries are also hurting.
Kerry Demos, who runs the Hastings Pizza shop in Victoria with her husband, said the prices of pizza boxes will rise by 2.5 per cent.
Despite this, they plan to absorb the increases rather than pass them on.
"If we put up our prices, I would think we would lose customers," Ms Demos said.
John Brent, chairman of lobby group AUSVEG, said vegetable and potato growers will face difficulties absorbing the impact of the carbon tax.
"This is just sheer fallacy when I hear the (government) saying that these costs filter down the system," he said.
"What Coles and Woolworths have said is, 'we will not be passing on the increase' which puts pressure on growers and they have nowhere to go."
He believes the impact of the carbon tax will make it "more attractive" for produce to be imported from Southeast Asia.
A spokesman for Climate Change Minister Greg Combet said the impact of refrigerant gas increases on households would be "minimal".
Industry experts believe price hikes - between 300 to 400 per cent - will be crippling.
The minister addressed the issue of waste disposal directly.
"If people are presenting this rise as all carbon related they would need to be very careful," he said.
"There are a range of factors behind the cost increase for disposal of waste including state government levies.
"The NSW government should not try to mislead NSW residents into thinking that the carbon price is behind their own decision to raise the waste levy."
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