The UK Landfill Tax – How Can It Work Harder?

Since its introduction in 1996, the UK Landfill Tax has had a significant impact in encouraging the diversion of waste from landfill to both recycling and recovery (such as Energy from Waste) and supporting the objectives of the Landfill Directive.

However, as a country we still send some 11 million tonnes of household waste (municipal solid waste – MSW) and industrial and commercial (I&C) waste to landfill each year. Update as of Sept 2024 – this figure is now 6.3 million tonnes.

Much of this contains organic matter which, as it degrades in landfill, generates significant quantities of methane – a gas that is 80 times more potent than carbon in terms of environmental impact.

When a landfill site is full, it is capped and a landfill gas extraction system is installed to capture the majority of this methane, which is combusted to generate electricity. Despite these efforts and the Landfill Tax itself, two serious negative impacts remain:

1. Significant quantities of methane are not captured and so are released into the atmosphere during the active life of the waste.
2. The presence and degradation of organic matter generates landfill leachate – a potent waste liquid that requires significant treatment to negate environmental impact. The movement from site and subsequent treatment of this leachate also generates carbon emissions throughout the landfill’s whole lifecycle.

It’s vital that we reduce – and ultimately eliminate – the quantity of waste sent to landfill, yet in the short to medium term, this may not be possible. Nonetheless, there are alternative steps we can take that make both environmental and economic sense, such as encouraging further treatment of the organic waste contained within residual waste; a commitment that would reduce the emission of both methane and landfill leachate.

We believe that treatment to stabilise organic waste, as per the similar requirement in the Republic of Ireland, aligned with a lower rate of Landfill Tax, would drive additional treatment of the residual waste destined for landfill. This move would reduce carbon emissions without affecting recycling rates.