Landfill Diversions
The diversion of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) from landfill is a key UK objective under the European Union’s Landfill Directive. By 2010, BMW going to landfill must be 75% of the amount produced in 1995; by 2013 this is reduced to 50% and by 2020 to 35%.
LATS allowances
The Landfill Allowances Trading Scheme (LATS), introduced on 1 April 2005, is one the government measures aimed at reducing the amount of BMW sent to landfill.
Landfill allowances have been allocated to all Waste Disposal Authorities (WDA) in England. Each has been assigned a decreasing amount of allowances every year from 2004 to 2020. WDA allowances are based on the total waste arisings and amounts sent for disposal, recycling, composting or recovery reported in the 2001/02 Municipal Management Waste Survey.
WDAs can choose either to trade their allowances with other WDAs, save them for future years (bank), or use some of their future allowances in advance (borrow).
Penalties
Failure to meet LATS targets could be costly for local authorities. Central government has signalled that it is serious about imposing penalties on those that fail to meet their obligations.
WDAs will automatically face a financial penalty of up to 150 per tonne if they landfill more BMW than they are permitted under the allowances allocated to them for that year.