New territorial authority waste levy expenditure system to go online

The new TAWLES will replace the current Excel-based process. It will be simpler, standardised and a more efficient solution with reduced operational risk and increased resilience.  

The move to a cloud-based solution aligns with the Government’s Information and Communication Technology strategy to improve service delivery and achieve substantial savings.

• A better user experience.   
• A secure, stable, scalable, and robust system that enables the best practice of compliance, monitoring, and enforcement (CME) activities.   
• Facilitates the annual reporting, management of Waste Minimisation Management Plan (WMMP), management of the Levy Spend Report (LSR) process and associated data query and management process.   
• Pre-populates data for existing projects that spans across reporting period, making LSR submission much easier. 

• Provides scalability to reflect government priorities around levy expenditure and waste data. 
• Existing active project information will be prefetched and displayed in the LSR - so, users won’t need to type the project details in case it spans across reporting periods  
• TAWLES will provide an ability to collaborate on LSR without having to co-locate.  

The MfE Waste Operations team will conduct an initial TAWLES training for TA users after go-live. The team will also provide continuous support to ensure all stakeholders take advantage of the features built into the new system.  

Territorial Authorities User Training Workshop

Levy Spend Report Explainer

The new automated reporting system will streamline current manual reporting into an online system for territorial authorities (TAs). It replaces the current Excel and email-based Territorial Authority Levy Spend Reporting and Compliance (LSR) process.  

It was developed with a focus on being a simpler, standardised and more efficient solution with reduced operational risk and increased resilience.  

This upgrade helps MfE (Ministry for the Environment) with its responsibilities of overseeing Aotearoa New Zealand’s environmental management system under the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 (WMA). Under the WMA, 50% of the Waste Levy collected by MfE each year is distributed between the TAs based on their population.  

Under Section 32, the TAs must spend levy money to promote or achieve waste minimisation in accordance with their Waste Management and Minimisation Plans (WMMP) required every six years.  

The July 2021 waste levy expansion will result in significantly increased revenue, estimated to be around $270 million per year from the end of 2024/25.  

So, the TAs will shortly see a substantial increase in the levy funds they receive.  

Currently, the levies spend reporting is non-mandatory and is managed manually to administer a portfolio of $83 million. This is unlikely to be feasible as the waste levy expansion rolls out.  

TAWLES will automate the reporting process as Levy Spend Reports (LSR) are likely to become mandatory soon under the proposed new regulation/legislation. Therefore, to effectively manage the growing levy funds, TAWLES aims to move away from the manual reporting used since 2010 to a modernised online system. 

Key changes to the existing process include: 

• TA will no longer receive Excel templates for the LSR, instead they will have access to an online LSR through TAWLES.

• the LSR will auto-populate active projects data from previous submission, hence TA will not need to key-in basic project information for projects that span across multiple reporting periods.
• draft LSR can be updated and saved anytime between the LSR start and end date.
• TA will provide Interest and Project proceeds as separate fields within the LSR.
• TA user will need to sign a declaration before submission of the LSR.

All Territorial Authority key contacts will receive an email with TAWLES registration link. 

• Upon receiving the TAWLES TA Client Portal registration link, follow the RealMe registration login to login TAWLES application client portal.
• Upon completion of registration, the user will be linked to their council’s TAWLES account.  
• Once registered, the Key Contact (with TAWLES TA Admin access) can add additional TA users through Create User button displayed on the Teams page of Business Account. 

There are no cost implications for the TAs with the new TAWLES.  

For all technical/IT issues with TAWLES email: support@enquire.cloud   

For all other issues email Waste Operations/Ngā Whakahaere Ā-Para: waste.TA@mfe.govt.nz  

As part of improved security, all users will be required to login using their personal RealMe® account. An email with a link for the first-time login into TAWLES will be sent to the TA’s primary point of contact.

Please note that by using RealMe Login services, MfE does not receive any personal data of the user (including email ID or phone number)

Also refer Government directions regarding RealMe services [Department of Internal Affairs website]

More on the RealMe® website:

• Privacy and security 
• 2 Factor Authentication 
• Where to use RealMe 
• Find out more on the RealMe website.

The RealMe® login is a single username and password you can use to securely access services online. RealMe® is recommended for all government online services.  

For more information on RealMe® visit the RealMe website.  

TA Levy Spend Reports in TAWLES will be sent to the TAs by mid-May 2022. These reports will need to be submitted through the TAWLES client portal by November 2022. 

All TA key contacts will receive an email advising of the change and how it impacts you. This will include the switch-over date and the steps involved.