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Landfill tax is set to increase from £40 to £48 a tonne from April 1st 2010, as the United Kingdom"s (UK"s) Government attempts to reduce the amount of waste that is ending up in the ground.

More than 330 million tonnes of waste is now produced within the United Kingdom (UK) each year and under the European Union (EU) Landfill Directive, member states are required to cut the amount of biodegradable municipal waste they send to landfill by up-to 75 per cent of 1995 levels in 2010, 50 per cent in 2013 and 35 per cent by 2020.

As such, targets and standards are tightening, and costs of waste disposal will keep going up. Following next month’s increase, landfill tax is also set to increase by £8 per tonne each coming April up-to and including April 2013, when landfill tax will have reached £72 per ton for disposal.

According to the United Kingdom (UK) Government, in 2008 the total environmental cost of waste sent to landfill and incinerators within the United Kingdom (UK), rather than being recycled, was £211 million and £125 million, respectively.

It says managing resources more efficiently could save the United Kingdom"s (UK"s) economy £6.4 billion every year – with most of these savings coming from energy efficiency and better waste management and recycling.

The Environmental Services Association, which represents the waste and secondary resource management industry, says it is working with the Government to ensure that many more of the United Kingdom"s (UK"s) smaller businesses switch to higher recycling. It is thought that a lack of recycling collections for small and medium-sized enterprises is hampering progress, something which the Biggreenbook"s online small business community has raised time and time again, and which hopefully people within the right places, to do something about changing it might finally be listening, we will watch and see?

Related links:
Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
www.defra.gov.uk
The Waste and Resources Action Programme
www.wrap.org.uk
The Environmental Services Association
www.esauk.org