Rising costs of waste disposal

With the beginning of the 2011/12 financial year Landfill Tax has now risen to £56 per tonne in what is seen by waste industry experts as a “pivotal” point in terms of encouraging the uptake of alternatives to landfill disposal.

The £8 rise from the 2010/11 rate of £48 per tonne is part of the Landfill Tax escalator process. The escalator sees the tax for landfill disposal rise by £8 per tonnes each year up to 2014/15, with Chancellor George Osborne having put a guarenteed floor under the rate to ensure it will remain at £80 per tonnes for the next 15 years after that too.

Of course the Landfill Tax is just one element of the landfill cost too, with haulage costs and 'gate fees' charged on top of this, for some areas the cost of landfill will rise over the £100 per tonne threshold at which point, thermal treatment and other alternative waste disposal options will become more economic. 

Whilst many have criticised the Landfill Tax as a stealth tax which requires Councils to collect nearly £1billion more Council tax which they then have to pay to the government it is undoubtedly starting to prove very effective in making greener options affordable.   Whilst in the short term it will put more pressure on stretched Council budgets in the long term it will force Councils and businesses to stop landfilling so much rubbish and send more waste for energy production instead.