Landfill Tax

Since 1996, landfill tax has had a central role in supporting waste policy, as it reflects the significant impact that landfilling has on the environment. Landfill tax encourages the development of sustainable waste management options such as recycling and treatment.

There are two rates of tax:

a standard rate (currently £40 per tonne) for active wastes •such as household wastes which decaya lower rate (currently £2.50 per tonne) for inactive or •inert wastes

Pre-treatmentAll wastes, inert, non-hazardous and hazardous, must be pre-treated prior to disposal to landfill. `Treatment’ is defined using the following `three-point test’ which must be satisfied for all of the waste to have been treated:

it must be a physical, thermal, chemical or biological 1. process, including sortingit must change the characteristics of the waste2. it must do so in order to:3. a) reduce its volume; orb) reduce its hazardous nature; orc) facilitate its handling; ord) enhance recovery

Unlike inert and hazardous waste, which must conform to Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC), there are no standards or WAC to which non hazardous waste must be treated before it can be landfilled. Furthermore, inert waste does not need to be treated before landfilling if this is not technically possible, e.g.:

if treatment is not technically feasible in accordance with •the three-point test; orif the inert waste would not be suitable for use, even •after treatment.

Plan Design Enable

Proposed changesThe Government is currently consulting on two key aspects of landfill tax:

the definition of a taxable disposal of waste at a •landfill sitethe definition of wastes that should qualify for the lower •rate of tax

From 1 September 2009 the use of material for the following purposes will constitute a taxable disposal to landfill:

daily cover•temporary haul roads•temporary hard standing•cell bunds - not part of the engineering structure•temporary screening bunds•temporary storage of ashes (including pulverised fuel ash •and furnace bottom ash)

However, the intention is not to tax recovery activities such as site engineering (outside the mass of the landfill), capping or site restoration, or other on-site recovery activities.

The lower rate of tax recognises that there is a relatively low level of environmental impact associated with the landfilling of wastes which are inert. Currently, wastes listed in the Landfill Tax (Qualifying Material) Order 1996 are those which qualify for the lower rate. However, the Government is proposing to instead follow the various tests in European legislation for determining which wastes are inert for tax purposes. This means that a number of wastes that are currently lower rated may not be inert in terms of European legislation and would cease to be lower rated. These may include:

coal fly ash (pulverised fuel ash)•bottom ash and slag and boiler dust•furnace slags including slag from waste incineration•used foundry sand•gypsum/ calcium sulphate•brine waste•red mud•low activity inorganic compounds•

Landfill Tax Exemption

As a means of encouraging the redevelopment of contaminated brownfield sites, landfill tax was previously exempt for contaminated materials which presented an unacceptable risk to human health or controlled waters. Sites for which successful applications were submitted before 30 November 2008 may continue to claim exemption until 31 March 2012, however, no new sites will be granted exemption.

Why Atkins?

We have one of the largest environmental consultancies in the UK employing over 600 environmental specialists.

Our Land Quality business has been voted number one for reputation out of the 50 largest consultancies for 2005 - 2008 by the independent edie.net Environment Business Consultancy Survey, as well as the best overall reputation in the larger environmental sector for the past four years.

Our highly skilled multi-disciplined approach allows us to apply innovative cost-effective solutions within a value engineering framework in the delivery of our clients’ objectives, and we are committed to maintaining our passion for excellence in all that we do.

For further information please contact our Land Quality team:

Natalyn AlaHead of Business UnitTelephone: +44 (0)1372 756771Email: natalyn.ala@atkinsglobal.com

Elisabeth GustavsenRemediation ManagerTelephone: +44 (0)1372 756741Email: elisabeth.gustavsen@atkinsglobal.com

www.atkinsglobal.com/environment

How Atkins can assist your business?

Our Land Quality business is a leading consultancy working extensively on issues for private companies including developers and industrial land owners, public sector organisations and regulators. Our reputation in this field is based on the expertise of our staff which includes some of the UK’s leading technical specialists and our ability to deliver cost-effective and integrated solutions.

We are highly skilled in:

Phase 1 land quality assessment (desk study)•Phase 2 site investigation•human health and controlled waters risk assessment•remediation options appraisal•remediation design•verification and regulatory sign-off•

To ensure that your business minimises expenditure on landfill tax, Atkins can assist your business in:

identifying the most sustainable remediation solutions for •your siteclassification of waste using our innovative waste soil •classification tool, CAT-WASTESOILidentifying the most suitable pre-treatment technologies •to reduce the classification of any waste requiring off site disposalvalue engineering to minimise waste arisings•

Land Remediation Relief

In order to continue to enable remediation of contaminated sites, which otherwise might be uneconomical to redevelop, the extension of land remediation corporation tax relief is intended to recycle the revenue raised by the withdrawal of the exemption from landfill tax of waste from the clean up of contaminated land. HMRC have estimated that the two measures, taken together, are broadly revenue-neutral.

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