The Policy Exchange, a centre right think tank, has just launched a report entitled:

A Wasted Opportunity: Getting the most out of Britain’s Bins

The report, drafted by Professor Chris Coggins and Robert McIlveen recommends the radical overhaul of the UK’s waste system to reduce the cost on households, improve recycling rates, increase local authority efficiency and expand the proportion of the UK’s energy needs met through waste.

Interestingly, the report also recommends that landfill tax should be reformed into a broader waste tax covering all disposal processes in line with the waste hierarchy.  The report states: “By introducing taxation on incineration a clear preference is signalled to reduce, reuse, recycle or compost where possible. To limit uncertainty, escalating rates should be set over a long enough period to encourage investment.”

The Policy Exchange’s view is that the Government should set a tax and regulatory regime which clearly establishes preferences over how waste is treated, with the highest rate for the least preferred option, landfill. Once established this framework will allow the private sector to plan long term investments in technologies that reflect the Government’s preferred approach.

There is no doubt that escalating Landfill Tax has resulted in the successful development of more sustainable waste management technologies and this proposal seems like a logical extention to it.

However, as with all new taxes, the devil will be in the detail. In particular, it will be difficult to get the taxation bands right as the relative advantages and disadvantages of the various technologies are still being debated. Technology providers will have to get involved in this debate  and justify the relative benefits of their technologies, or run the risk that their option is taxed at levels which make them significantly less attractive to invest in.

Whatever technological options prove to be favoured under a revised waste taxation system, the fact remains that new facilities will still have to be consented and built – and no one wants to live next door to a waste facility – no matter how far up the waste heirarchy it is!

Source: Policy Exchange