lippermen slam waste tax
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• Increases in the rates of landfill tax for waste site owners will lead to more illegal fly tipping, warn tipper operators and industry experts.
The new legislation, announced by Kenneth Clarke in November's Budget, has gone to a Parliamentary standing committee to finalise details before being debated in the Commons later this month.
The new legislation, part of the Finance Bill (1996), comes into effect on 1 October and almost doubles the tax burden on waste dumped at the UK's 10,000-plus network of registered waste sites.
Tipper hauliers are up in arms over the moves, with many saying they will be increasingly undercut by cowboy operators who tip illegally. "This will definitely encourage fly tipping," says John Thompson, transport manager of Crawley-based M Matthews. "These moves will mean cowboy operators can save more money by dumping illegally. We have to be whiter than white and try and compete against this type of thing."
Ifield-based Brown Haulage says the new legislation will particularly encourage dumping of construction waste: "The new tax will create a charter for the cowboy operator and will lead to massive abuse."
However, the Freight Transport Association supports the legislation, saying that it will only encourage site owners to keep tighter controls on what is dumped on their sites.