The report was expected to appear this week alongside the Pre-Budget Report, which will be unveiled on December 10, 2003. But a spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said today that delays in the research process meant this was now impossible.
In April 2003's Budget, Chancellor Gordon Brown promised to look at the case for “economic instruments” for incineration of waste in the next Pre-Budget. It was to consider the health review in making this decision, which was widely expected to include the option of an incineration tax.
It also pledged to make a decision on a package of measures to increase Landfill Tax to 35 in the medium term in a way that is “revenue neutral to business as a whole”, including some tailored support for sectors facing the greatest additional costs.
Pressure
Ahead of the Pre-Budget report, Friends of the Earth has made its own views on incineration and waste disposal clear. The pressure group is calling for a 10 per tonne incineration tax and up to 370 million a year to help recycling.
FoE claims the government subsidises incineration by 7.65-14.75 per tonne, through exemptions from the climate Change Levy, tax breaks on Combined Heat and Power (CHP) and the Renewables Obligation, which rewards energy from renewable sources.
FoE senior waste campaigner Claire Wilton said: “Recycling saves much more energy than incineration, creates more jobs and has fewer greenhouse gas emissions. But the government is giving tax breaks and subsidies to incineration, making it cheaper for local councils to burn rubbish rather than recycle it.”
Comparing recycling with incineration, the group said: “If the two disposal methods were to be given comparable support from the Government, recycling should receive subsidies of up to 50 a tonne because of the energy it saves. Incineration should be taxed at around 10 a tonne to take account of its negative environmental impacts.”
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