Scotland to take control of landfill tax by 2015

The Scottish Government will launch a consultation into setting its own levels of landfill tax before the end of the year, and will have overall control of the tax by 2015.

Scotland was handed control of its own landfill tax levels by the coalition government under provisions in the Scotland Act 2012, which also devolved control of stamp duty, income tax and land tax to the Scottish executive. The bill officially became law after receiving royal assent in May.

Outlining the Scottish Parliaments legislative programme for 2012/13 earlier this month, First Minister Alex Salmond announced that the Scottish Government will pass a Landfill Tax Bill, which will establish the statutory frameworks needed for the country to be able to govern and administer its own rate of landfill tax.

A statement on the Scottish Governments website said: The Bill will put in place a replacement for Landfill Tax in Scotland. The Bill will set out proposals to establish the administration, charges and rules governing a uniquely Scottish Landfill Tax.

Landfill Tax is a cornerstone of Scotlands Zero Waste Plan, encouraging the prevention, reuse and recycling of waste and helping keep valuable resources circulating in the Scottish economy. The Landfill Tax Bill will create a tax on the landfilling of waste, replacing the current UK system in 2015.”

Targets

In May, the Scottish Parliament approved the Waste (Scotland) Regulations, which outline Scotlands future waste and recycling targets and make proposals set out in its Zero Waste Plan a legal requirement. These include steps to reach a 70% recycling rate by 2025, with a view to driving waste out of landfill and up the waste hierarchy.

Proposals to give Scotland the power to set its own rate of landfill tax first surfaced in 2010, with opponents claiming that the plans could affect the level playing field for waste management companies in the UK and could encourage unscrupulous traders to exploit price variations across the border (see letsrecycle.com story).

In April 2012 landfill tax in the UK reached 64 per tonne and is due to rise again to 72 per tonne in April 2013 (see letsrecycle.com story). The tax is seen as one of the key drivers for growth in the recycling sector in the UK.

• The Scottish Government last week (September 13) unveiled a 2.5 million loan fund for plastics recyclers to develop plastics sorting and reprocessing facilities, to be administered by Zero Waste Scotland and Scottish Enterprise.The fund will support a range of projects covering plastic bottles and rigid plastics as well as plastic films, uPVC window and door frames and plastics from WEEE.