According to HM Treasury, the standard rate from April 2024 will be £103.70, up by just £1.60 from the rate which has been in force from 1 April 2023. This month also saw the lower rate of landfill tax rise to £3.25 and this will rise by just five pence to £3.30 in April 2024.
Waste sector experts had expected that the landfill tax rate could rise significantly in 2024 as the annual April increases are linked to the RPI, the retail price index. This has been in the order of more than 10% in recent months.
However, it is thought that calculations by the Office for Budget Responsibility are signalling a lower RPI rate for 2024 of around 1.6% after a fall to around 4.9% later this year.
The table below shows the landfill tax rates for 2024 which were released in Treasury documents accompanying last month’s Budget.
| LANDFILL TAX RATES |
source: HM Treasury |
||
| Material sent to landfill | From 1 April 2022 | From 1 April 2023 | From 1 April 2024 |
| Coverage | England and Northern Ireland | England and Northern Ireland | England and Northern Ireland |
| Standard rated (per tonne) | £98.60 | £102.10 | £103.70 |
| Lower rated (per tonne) | £3.15 | £3.25 | £3.30 |
Consequences
The relatively small rate increase from 2024 is expected to have a number of consequences.
For some local authorities who still use landfill, such as in Cumbria and Essex, the small rise will help keep waste expenditure down. For the energy from waste sector, the small rise could be bad news as its gate fees rise in comparison. It is facing considerably higher operating costs because of inflation, including for staff and materials such as for the cost of ammonia – used in stack cleaning processes – rising significantly.
With England expected to move away from the landfilling of organic fractions later in the 2020s, the low increase in landfill tax could also act as a disincentive to the development of more recycling and energy facilities, one sector expert told letsrecycle.com. He added: “This is the wrong signal to be sending out.”
Tonnage
In the current market landfill prices are up slightly and although energy from waste gate fees have also risen slightly over past weeks, a dearth of waste tonnage is helping to keep a lid on price rises. The RDF market is reported by some businesses as seeing reductions in gate fees because of the desire to keep attracting UK waste to the continent of Europe.
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