Ireland raises landfill levy by 5 a tonne

John Gormley, minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, is to increase the levy by the maximum €5 allowed in law from €15 (£12) to €20 (£16) for every tonne of waste sent to an authorised landfill facility.

The changes have been made through the Waste Management (Landfill Levy) Order 2008, which amends section 73(3) of the Waste Management Acts 1996 to 2008.

The levy builds on a €20 a tonne tax which is already in place in Ireland for waste which is sent to an unauthorised landfill facility. This means that persons responsible for the illegal deposition must pay the levy and remove the waste, as required by Section 60 Policy Direction, and remediate the land, apart from any other penalties that may be imposed through the courts.

Obligations

The €5 Landfill Tax rise has been implemented in a bid to help Ireland meet its obligations under the Landfill Directive.

Speaking at a parliamentary debate in February, Mr Gormley said that if Ireland was to meet its obligations under the directive and avoid the threat of legal proceedings before the European Court of Justice, it must double the amount of biodegradable waste diverted from landfill by 2010.

He said: “We need to accelerate the move away from landfill quite dramatically, to examine all the technologies that can contribute to this and to regulate the sector in a manner that supports optimal environmental performance at minimum cost.”

Mr Gormley explained that scale of the challenge was illustrated in the EPA's national waste report for 2006, which showed that, while quantities of waste recycled increased, so too did the quantity of waste sent to landfill.