Government is consulting on proposals to change rates of landfill tax. Stop!…. This is more important than you think.

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-reform-of-landfill-tax

There are currently two landfill tax rates, £126 for residual waste, in South Cambridgeshire black bin waste, and £4 for ‘less polluting materials’ such as rocks, soils etc, ie bulky, building site waste. Government is proposing to equalise the rates so they are both the higher level.

This would make it unaffordable for local authorities to continue to collect building waste from households as they currently do at Milton Household Recycling Site and both commercial and domestic construction waste would be subject to the new higher rate.

This would make domestic extensions far more expensive, risk increases in fly tipping and dumping of waste products on site (for example burying rubble in a garden) and make the business case for brownfield sites and urban regeneration far more expensive making virgin sites even more attractive.

There is an argument to increase the lower rate above £4 a ton to encourage recycling but it is not clear that everything can be recycled and this type of waste is often far less polluting. There is nothing in the consultation to indicate that the impact on the construction industry has been considered. The rationale for the proposals being about tax avoidance and illegal landfill behaviours.

If you are concerned that these proposals will make urban regeneration and building on brownfield sites too expensive please respond to the consultation and encourage industry representatives to respond. A sensible middle ground position could be to ask for further evidence on how to maximise construction industry recycling and regeneration of brownfield sites, how this should relate to landfill tax rates for building waste and that this should be part of a new policy approach.

The consultation closes 21 July 2025.

In government’s words from chapter 3 of the 27 page consultation;

There are currently two rates of Landfill Tax: the standard rate is currently £126.15 per tonne and the lower rate, which broadly applies to inert, less polluting materials, is £4.05 per tonne. Materials currently subject to the lower rate are set out in the Qualifying Materials Order (QMO) and the Qualifying Fines Order (QFO).

When developing the QMO the government considered factors including the potential for greenhouse gas emissions, the polluting potential in the landfill environment and whether the materials are hazardous. This has contributed to a significant differential in outcomes for materials subject to the standard versus lower rate. Whilst the declared volume of standard rated materials sent to landfill decreased by 82 per cent (from 24.9 million tonnes in 2010/11 to 4.4 million tonnes in 2023/24), the declared volume of lower rated materials only fell by 31 per cent (from 11.4 million tonnes to 7.9 million tonnes in the same period).

Many materials subject to the lower rate, such as rocks and soils, have the potential to be recycled and reused, which would reduce our reliance on scarce natural resources.