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

additional 10% must be met by another funder to make the donation ‘cost-neutral’ to
the landfill operator.
The The The UK UK UK Aggregates Aggregates Aggregates Levy Levy Levy Sustainability Sustainability Sustainability Fund Fund Fund (ALSF) (ALSF)
(ALSF)
The UK aggregates levy provides the source of finance for the Aggregates Levy
Sustainability Fund (ALSF). The aggregates levy is an environmental tax on the
commercial exploitation of primary aggregate in the UK. The total fund is in the region
of £15 million per year. The Aggregates Levy is set at £1.60 per tonne, with the
exception of those in Northern Ireland who only pay 20% of the levy which equates to
£0.32 per tonne in return for committing to making significant environmental
improvements.
Western Western Australia’s Australia’s Waste Waste Avoidance Avoidance and and Resource Resource Recovery Recovery Account
Account
Western Australia’s landfill levy finances a range of zero-waste related schemes. The
fund is financed through direct allocation of all funds collected through the levy. The
levy is currently set at $8/tonne and is paid by landfill operators located in, or
receiving waste from, the Perth metropolitan area. The fund is worth just under $20
million/year. In a ‘Landfill Levy Review’ undertaken for the Waste Management Board
of Western Australia it is reported that the levy itself was imposed in order to generate
revenue to fund projects which were focused on resource recovery and reducing
waste to landfill:
913
“As reported by ECS (2003), the 1995 Report of the Parliamentary Select
Committee on Recycling and Waste Management stated that the levy concept
was developed primarily to fund a range of activities related to waste
minimisation and recycling. The levy rate was determined by dividing the total
amount of funds needed by the estimated tonnage to landfill.” 1123
This might appear a somewhat unusual approach to take to the introduction of a levy,
though in reality, one objective of levies is likely to be to raise revenue, whatever the
nature of the destination of the funds so raised. However, due to the increasing levy
rate the focus of this policy has now changed, with more emphasis placed on
capturing externalities and directly influencing waste management.
60.4.2 Centralised Public Finance
Money that has been allocated from a centralised budget to be used as funding is
less predictable and far more variable in size than those derived from taxation, as
exemplified by the following examples:
The The European European Commission
Commission
The European Commission run a series of funds which are sourced from public
money. The Directorate General for the Environment makes runs three funding
programmes which could be relevant to waste-related projects: the LIFE fund, the
Competitiveness and Innovation Programme – Entrepreneurship and Innovation
1123 Four Scenes Pty Ltd (2007) Landfill Levy Review, Report to the Waste Management Board of
Western Australia, Available: http://www.zerowastewa.com.au/documents/landfill_levy_51107.pdf
International Review of Waste Policy: Annexes