Landfill Tax money distributed through WRAP could count as private funds

This would enable money from the Landfill Tax to be used as leverage to obtain other grants such as the European Social Fund.

The suggestion came from Dr Paul Hollinshead, leader of the Strategy Unit's waste team, at a meeting of the Parliamentary Sustainable Waste Group. The meeting was being held to discuss the Unit's waste report, Waste Not, Want Not.

Dr Hollinshead was asked by Barry Sheerman, Labour MP for Huddersfield, why the Strategy Unit had recommended reforming the Landfill Tax Credit System.

Mr Sheerman said: “When you take the Landfill Tax money and put it into the public sector, you lose around 400 million of leverage. You may get the 110 million for sustainable waste management, but you kill the goose that laid the golden egg.”

But in response to this, Dr Hollinshead said that some of the Landfill Tax money might go through the Waste and Resources Action Programme, a public-private company.

Dr Hollinshead said: “If some of the money goes through WRAP, it could be classified as private for leverage purposes.”

Explaining the Unit's decision to recommend reforms to the Landfill Tax, Dr Hollinshead said: “We thought that there needed to be some reform because of the lack of transparency. If you are a local authority, and local authorities pay around 56% of the landfill tax in the UK, you are going to want to know where the money is going to, and how you can get some of it to increase kerbside collections.”

He added: “There are arguments on both sides. If landfill tax goes up, there's more funds for the LTCS.”