Tax bills threat as councils fail on recycling

Councils face huge bills in landfill tax for unnecessary waste that could have been recycled and which ends up in landfill sites instead.

Last year alone, Yorkshire's authorities faced a collective landfill tax bill of more than 64m, up from 55m the previous year. On current projections this will rise to at least 70m next year.

Two councils, Calderdale and Bradford, were placed in the top 10 worst performing councils for recycling nationally.

The national targets, set by the Government, say at least 40 per cent of waste collected should be recycled. In Yorkshire, only four Yorkshire councils, Rotherham, North Yorkshire, York City and North Lincolnshire, have exceeded this limit.

Based on figures produced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), only two more will hit the 40 per cent rate this year – Wakefield and Barnsley.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive at the TaxPayers' Alliance,

said: "It's ridiculous that while hectoring and nagging taxpayers about recycling and wheelie bins, councils are failing to keep their end of the bargain and are not meeting Government targets.

"In the long run, this will mean council tax rises due to landfill taxes increasing, at a time when ordinary families simply cannot afford it."

Tariffs imposed by the European Union, which come into force this year, limit the amount of recycling that can be sent to landfill.

Britain must reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste going to landfill by 75 per cent of that produced in 1995 – 11.2m tonnes in England. If it fails then the Government will be fined 150 per tonne over the limit.

Because a minority of councils have exceeded these levels it means they can trade the extra landfill space they have with failing councils.

This will cost the failing council 7 per tonne in what is called the Landfill Allowances Trading Scheme, a move understood to be under consideration by a handful of Yorkshire councils.

Landfill tax was 40 per tonne last year, rising to 48 this year, and 54 in 2011. The Government has said annual increases should act as a deterrent to councils to stop sending waste to landfill.

Mark Thompson, head of housing and environment at Calderdale Council, said a new contractor should see recycling figures double.

He added: "I think we've gone from the naughty corner to the class swat. We have introduced a weekly food recycling collection, door-to-door recycling and wheelie bins across the district."

Ian Bairstow, strategic director for environment at Bradford Council, said: "We have invested a lot of time, effort and money to improve our recycling service.

"At the moment Bradford Council is negotiating a contract to deal with the district's waste for the next 25 years, to avoid it going to landfill."