Direct Landfill Tax Revenues To Environment Agency To Help Clear Illegal Waste Dumps, Treasury Urged
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The Treasury should allow the Environment Agency (EA) to use landfill tax revenues to clean up illegal waste dumps, parliamentarians have told PoliticsHome.
In the Budget last week, Chancellor Rachel Reeves raised the landfill tax – the levy for those using authorised landfills to dispose of waste – from £126.15 per tonne to £130.75 per tonne at the standard rate. The change will take effect from Spring next year.
As things stand, money raised from this tax goes directly to the Treasury. But with recent research finding that there may be around 8,000 illegal waste dumps across the UK, parliamentarians are now calling for the government to temporarily divert landfill tax proceeds to the EA to help fund the clearing of the sites.
Liberal Democrat peer Lord Russell, a member of the Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee, said the current setup “borders on the ludicrous” as it’s “one arm of government robbing another”.
“It just makes it difficult to have any form of joined-up government that is capable of dealing with a serious organised waste crime and clearing up the mess that's left behind," he told PoliticsHome.
In June, Oxfordshire locals reported a mass of waste – shredded plastics, polystyrene, tyres and other household items – dumped between the River Cherwell and the A34 near Kidlington. The pile, at risk of contaminating the waterway, sits at 490ft long and 20ft high.
The Kindlington site, described as "utterly appalling" by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, was declared a critical incident by the EA.
Liberal Democrat MP Calum Miller, whose Bicester and Woodstock constituency is home to the site, said he has been "shocked to learn that the EA has only £15m a year to tackle waste crime when the Treasury collects nearly £500m a year from landfill tax. The same landfill tax creates the incentives for criminals to dump waste in the countryside to avoid paying the tax".
He added: "Spending more of the revenue raised from landfill tax on enforcement and clear-ups is common sense: it will prevent more illegal dumping, support the legitimate waste industry, raise more money and protect the environment. Ministers should treat this as a priority because local residents should not be left paying the price for policy failure."
Labour MP for South Norfolk Terry Jermy, who has an illegal waste dump in his constituency, told PoliticsHome he “strongly supports calls for the Treasury to allow landfill tax receipts to be redirected towards the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the EA to help with clean-up costs”.
Jermy said a farm in his constituency has been dumped with 200 bales of DIY waste masquerading as hay, which will likely cost £250,000 to dispose of properly. It “may end up finishing the farm off”, he said.
A large-scale clean-up operation is currently underway on the Hoad’s Wood site in Kent, where criminals have dumped 30,000 tonnes of rubbish. The EA is now paying up to £15m to clean up the mess.
However, there are currently six more sites the size of Hoad’s Wood or larger where illegal waste activity has been occurring. These include two sites in Burnley, and one in Northwich, Sittingbourne, Cambourne and Fakenham. The Sittingbourne and Cambourne sites are considered ‘active’ – meaning the sites are continuing to see waste dumped there illegally.
“There aren't clear ways forward for them to be cleared up at all,” Lord Russell said. “So what happens in most cases is the sites aren't cleared.”
Government figures suggest illegal waste tipping is now costing the country £1bn a year.
A Treasury spokesperson told PoliticsHome: “Landfill Tax provides an economic incentive to divert waste away from landfill and supports investment in more circular waste management options, such as recycling and recovery. Since 2000, Landfill Tax has contributed to a 90 per cent reduction in local authority waste sent to landfill in England.
“Through the reforms to Landfill Tax that were announced at the Budget, we will tackle the existing high levels of non-compliance and provide a stronger economic incentive to support businesses to invest in more sustainable waste management options.”
