Speaking at the IWM conference in Torbay, Simon Hewitt told delegates that possibilities currently being discussed include the linking of landfill tax rates to recycling rates.
Mr Hewitt said: “Instead of just having two rates of landfill tax, we could link it to the amount of recycling done by each local authority – as some kind of incentive.”
Such a move would mean that for local authorities, any success in recycling waste could be rewarded through a reduction in the landfill tax rate. But Mr Hewitt stressed that this was aimed at raising recycling rates, and that the government is still working to avoid landfill in waste management.
As part of plans to take at least 30 million tonnes of waste away from landfill by 2020, the government is considering imposing strict limits on the amount of material local authorities are allowed to send to landfill sites. But as Mr Hewitt explained, these limits would be tradable.
He said: “So areas with no land available for landfill can sell their landfill permits to areas with plenty of landfill available – raising money for incinerators of so they can go hell for leather with recycling.”
This year's Budget announcement announced changes in the landfill tax, but Chancellor Gordon Brown has not yet but a figure on the tax.
“Landfill tax is on an escalator at the moment,” Mr Hewitt said, “it's only half the level as in other European member states, so I do expect it to increase.”
Mr Hewitt also gave some indication that the government is ready to hand out the first portion of the 140 million fund for local authority recycling projects. It expected that money could be handed out from the beginning of next week.
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