A Wellington City Councillor believes we should be paying 20 times what we currently are to dispose of waste

Local Government New Zealand's calling on the government to take a nationwide approach to the collection and processing of recyclable materials.

Wellington City Councillor Iona Pannett says the waste disposal levy, which councils pay to the government and is then redistributed back to them, is 10 dollars a tonne.

She says it's far too low compared to other countries.

Pannett says it should be up to 200 dollars which will in turn give councils more money to build infrastructure.