LATS, which begins in April 2005, is the government's key measure to meet the demands of Europe's Landfill Directive, which calls for a reduction in the landfilling of biodegradable municipal waste to 75% of 1995 levels by 2010, 50% of 1995 levels by 2013 and 35% of 1995 levels by 2020.
It will set councils a limit on the amount of biodegradable waste they can send to landfill. Councils will be allocated landfill allowances for the period up to 2020, and they can trade these allowances if they need to landfill more material than their allocations permit, or if they have surplus allowances (see letsrecycle.com legislation section).
A Defra spokesperson said: “The purpose of these roadshows is to explain the most important aspects of the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme, to facilitate discussion of the issues and to address any concerns held by stakeholders. They will also include other presentations from Defra and the Environment Agency on wider waste issues linked to the introduction of LATS.”
The roadshows are being held in London, Birmingham, Cambridge, Nottingham, Manchester, Leeds, Exeter and Middlesborough during July. For more information, contact the Landfill Policy Team on 020 7082 8803.
Allocations
Meanwhile, the Environment Agency has issued local authorities with an estimator tool, which can estimate what councils' allocations of landfill allowances will be. The tool has been developed by the Environment Agency in conjunction with Defra.
An Agency spokesperson warned that this is only an estimate, to give local authorities an indication of the allowances they could receive. The tool is for English local authorities only, as the devolved administrations may use slightly different methods to calculate the allowance allocations.
- To download the LATS estimator tool for English waste disposal authorities (in a Microsoft Excel file), click here.
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