B3.10.10 Landfill
A landfill site is a waste disposal site where waste is deposited onto or into land.
There are two rates for landfill tax:
- Standard rate: £64 per tonne (2012/2013). Standard rate will increase by £8 a year until April 2014.
- Lower rate for inactive waste, such as rocks and soil: £2.50 per tonne.
Wastes that you are not permitted to landfill:
Liquid Wastes
Liquid Waste have been banned from landfill in England, Northern Ireland and Wales since October 2007. In Scotland liquid wastes are usually banned from landfill under a site’s Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) permit.
Used Tyres
Whole and shredded used tyres. This does not include bicycle tyres, or tyres with an outside diameter greater than 1.4 metres (e.g. larger agricultural and earthmover tyres). Whole tyres can still be used for landfill engineering purposes, as long as this is stated on the landfill site’s PPC permit.
Healthcare Wastes
Infectious clinical wastes from hospitals, medical or veterinary establishments.
Waste that has dangerous characteristics under landfill conditions
This includes:
- Explosive items (ammunition, gunpowder, flares, detonators, and waste from the explosives industry).
- Corrosive items (acid or alkaline sludges).
- Flammable substances (wastes containing solvents with a flash point of 55oC or less, magnesium, phosphorus, alcohol or camphor).
- Oxidising substances (ammonium nitrate, potassium chlorate, potassium permanganate, sodium chlorate).
Chemicals
New or unidentified chemical substances, whose effects on man and the environment are not known, are banned from landfill. These may originate from research and development, or teaching activities.
Pre-Treatment of Waste
All waste must be treated before you send it to landfill, with the exception of:
- Inert waste that cannot be treated.
- Any other waste for which treatment would not reduce its quantity or its hazard to human health and the environment.
Treatment is defined as a physical, thermal, chemical or biological process, which changes the characteristics of the waste. The characteristics may be changed by:
- Reducing the volume of the waste.
- Note that compaction is not a form of treatment.
- Reducing the hazardous nature of the waste.
- Making handling or recovery easier.
Stable Non-Reactive Hazardous Wastes
Some landfill sites that are classed as non-hazardous may be able to take certain types of hazardous waste, if it is classed as stable and non-reactive. An example of this is asbestos waste. Asbestos waste is hazardous, but it is stable and non-reactive.