Reducing landfill could save councils over 600m

The LGA claims that, with the UK landfilling 57% of its municipal waste, councils spend £620 million each year on Landfill Tax at its current rate of £40 per tonne, but if it could improve its performance to match Germany, which landfills just 1% of its waste, it could save £609 million each year.

It claimed that this improvement would mean UK household would pay just 53 pence a year in Landfill Tax, compared to the £30 a year they are currently liable for.

Comparing the UK's landfill performance to nine other Western European countries, the LGA found that even though the UK does not produce as much municipal waste per person as some European countries it landfills 326.04 kg per person each year – nearly 60kg per person more than the next worst performing country in the study, Finland.

Commenting on the results of the study, the chairman of the LGA's environment board, councillor Paul Bettison, linked it to the LGA's campaign for Landfill Tax to be directly returned to local authorities to develop waste and recycling infrastructure, which could help divert waste from landfill.

He said: “When it comes to throwing less rubbish in the ground Brits are languishing in the lower leagues. If councils knew they were getting Landfill Tax back, they could build the recycling facilities that would help this country compete with our European rivals. Being the recycling champions of Europe could save council taxpayers across the country a staggering £609m.”

“As well as being bad for the environment, throwing rubbish in the ground threatens to hit council taxpayers in the pocket unless we cut back. Councils and council taxpayers could soon face further fines of £150 for every tonne of rubbish that is landfilled above a set amount,” added Cllr Bettison.

Study

Using figures published in March this year by the European Commission's statistical office, Eurostat, for 2007 (see letsrecycle.com story) the LGA compared the amount of waste landfilled, generated per person, landfilled per person and the cost of comparative Landfill Tax per household to rate the UK against Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Belgium, Sweden, Luxembourg, Finland and France.

In terms of waste generated per person, the UK (572kg) performed better than Austria (597kg), Netherlands (630kg), Luxembourg (694kg) and Denmark (801kg) in the study but was the worst performer for the amount of waste per person sent to landfill.

The LGA also compared how much local authorities in the other European countries would be paying in Landfill Tax if they had the levy in place at the same £40 per tonne rate as the UK and revealed that Germany would only pay £11 million each year and the Netherlands would pay £33 million annually, compared to the £620 million being paid by UK councils.

Cllr Bettison added: “Local people deserve great credit for boosting our recycling rate in recent years. If it wasn't for the hard work of UK households, we'd be throwing even more rubbish in the ground. It's time the government showed everyone where Landfill Tax is going and helped the UK become the recycling champions of Europe.”