International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

to 2 per cent of the landfill levy, but any such deductions can not exceed a total of
€50,000, or any amount specified in writing by the Minister, per year.
The Environment Fund Accounts 2007 indicate an expenditure of €388,025 for
“Environmental Levy Collection Costs”. This equates to approximately 1% of the total
income from the levy on the landfill of waste.
41.9 Response from Public and Industry
There is a general acceptance of the landfill levy from the public and industry, as its
aim was to encourage the diversion of waste away from landfill and generate
revenues that can be applied in support of waste minimisation and recycling
initiatives.
41.10 Effects on Technical Change / Innovation
The landfill levy was increased in July 2008 to further discourage the use of landfill as
a treatment option. The aim of the increase is to reduce the quantity of waste being
disposed of in landfill and to increase recovery and recycling rates. This increase in
the levy of €5 per tonne may not be effective in reducing the rate of waste being
treated at landfill as at the same time the landfill gate fee has decreased by an
average of €27.50 per tonne, when comparing 2007 figures with 2005.
Increased landfill levies have encouraged a change in work methods or the
sequencing of work elements on site such that C&D waste produced is segregated
such that soil, stone and concrete fractions can be disposed of to landfills (exempt
from the landfill tax) for engineering purposes.
41.11 Social and Distributional Consequences
This policy, by way of the exemption afforded to the heavier fraction of C&D waste, is
more sympathetic to C&D waste generation as opposed to other waste streams such
as municipal waste. This partly reflects the view that as long as landfills are required,
then if C&D wastes are not arriving at sites, alternative materials would be required
for site engineering, hardstanding, and other similar uses.
It has been the case that large C&D waste producers/processors and those located in
close proximity to landfill facilities, or indeed those who operate landfills, have been in
a position to develop markets for the exempt fraction of C&D waste, which has in turn
provided them with a competitive advantage from a financial perspective. Other
smaller C&D waste producers/processors may not have been able to develop such
markets. Consequently, the landfill levy exemption afforded to certain elements of
C&D waste may have favoured larger companies over smaller companies.
41.12 Complementary Policies
The C&D Waste Management Plan policy is complemented by the landfill levy policy.
Avoidance of the landfill levy, through waste prevention, minimisation, reuse and
recycling is facilitated by the preparation of a C&D Waste Management Plan, at
project design stage, in accordance with the guidelines published.
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International Review of Waste Policy: Annexes