T he Government's aim in introducing the landfill tax, first announced
Page 44
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
in 1994, is to encourage recycling of waste materials from household rubbish through to construction projects. Cynics believe it is just another example of the Government introducing a further revenue raising measure in the wake of hikes in VAT, airport taxes and fuel duties that do not come directly out of take-home pay.
Certainly tipperman Mark Williams, acting transport manager at Edinburgh based Neil Williams, does not believe the tax will have the desired effect "People in construction will think twice before muckshifting. They will crush the stone flat rather than take it away—they will find a way to hide it rather than move it."
This seems to be happening already: the last two months have been very quiet, he reports. Williams is also convinced that smaller, disreputable operators will take to flytipping.
"The tax is outrageous," he says. "In a year's time the Government will realise its mistake but by then it will be too late for many hauliers." Williams worries are shared by Graham Bromley, boss of GH Bromley, a 14-vehicle tipper operation based near Ashford, Kent: "Rubbish on the building sites will be buried; no one's going to pay £7 a tonne." Bromley runs two landfill sites and is concerned that, because the tax is payable at the end of each quarter, he must sometimes hand the cash over before his customers have paid him."lt's totally out of order—it's bad enough collecting the money for the Government without having to borrow to pay it!"
The public. says Bromley, is unaware of the effects of the tax: "It will put prices up everywhere because outfits like Tesco will have to pay more to have its muck taken away" Ile adds that he is in favour of recycling but the tax is set at too high a level: "Perhaps LI a tonne?"
By contrast recycling outfit Greenacre Waste Management at Narberth in South Pembrokeshire welcomes the new tax. The company runs two local authori
ty recycling depots, hires out skips and separates waste at its own transfer station. Customers who have their waste recycled by Greenacre avoid the tax. Contract manager Keith Goldsworthy has noticed a flurry of activity in the run-up to its introduction with an increased demand for skip hire as companies have a clean out. "We are now getting a lot of enquiries from factories looking for waste management advice."
Greenacre will pass on some of its savings from recycling to customers. "The current tip price is £18.50, with .E7 tax added, that will be £25.50, but we will only charge £23.50 because we keep an accurate record of what we salvage." But like the tippermen, Goldsworthy worries about flytipping: "Our minimum hire charge is .E90 for a two-tonne skip. The new tax will add £14 to that—what man in the street can afford to pay more than £100 to get rid of his old fridge and sofa?"
Not only that but he is convinced that the temptation to increase the tax from its present level of £2 and <£7 per tonne will be too great for the Government to resist: "It will definitely go up next year with possibly an interim increase between budgets," he predicts.
by Patric Cunnane