The suggestion came from Gev Eduljee, external affairs director of waste and resources management firm Suez, who was speaking at a panel session on waste crime, hosted by the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) and legal firm Dentons.
According to Dr Eduljee, using the lower rate of landfill tax is an “open opportunity” for firms to “game the system” and undercut legitimate businesses.
Since April, the standard rate of landfill tax has stood at £84.40 per tonne, whilst the lower rate stands at just £2.65.
Landfill
Only fines material which achieves a ‘loss on ignition’ test of below 10% can qualify for the lower rate of tax, but Dr Eduljee claimed that a smaller gap between the two tax levels would reduce the incentives for unscrupulous businesses to attempt to manipulate the system.
Delegates claimed that the level of increases in landfill tax may have been ‘too steep’ in the past, with large increases in the tax rate likely to driven some businesses to illegal operators. The standard rate of landfill tax stood at just £56 per tonne in 2011.
Criticism was also levelled at the government’s drive to cut red tape around waste guidance, which has seen a revised version of the government’s ‘Duty of Care Code of Practice’ published, moving from around 60-pages of guidance to 13 pages (see letsrecycle.com story).
Anna Willetts, associate in the Environment and Safety team at Dentons, said: “A lot of my clients say it is a big problem that guidance is gone. To a certain extent it [the new version of the document] is helpful but I am disappointed that there is not more in there to help businesses.”
Dr Eduljee also described the ‘slimmed down’ guidance on legal duties as ‘not fit for purpose’ but CIWM chief executive Steve Lee countered that most business owners will not have the time ‘to read a 90 page document, unless they need to’.
Duty of Care
A waste industry-led campaign to highlight the obligations of waste-producing businesses was launched last month. Titled ‘Right Waste, Right Place’, the campaign claims that as many as 56% of businesses in the UK do not comply with the law on how waste should be produced, carried, disposed of and treated (see letsrecycle.com story).
The panel session also saw CIWM launch a guide to tackling waste crime ‘Fighting Waste Crime: the real impact of waste crime on your organisation’, aimed at highlighting the effects of waste crime on businesses and society.
Asked why the UK has not been better at preventing illegal waste activities, Mat Crocker, deputy director for illegals and waste at the Environment Agency, claimed that is difficult to predict the different trends in waste crime.
He said: “It is quite hard to predict what is going to happen, reacting to things is something that we can control. We are trying to shorten the loop between seeing something going on and doing something about it.
“If you are worried about something then tell us about it.”
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