A Note on the 2020 Waste Management Costs Increases

Waste management prices are set to increase in the UK in 2020 due to a number of factors:

An increase in landfill tax rates 

Currently, a high proportion of waste in the UK is still sent to landfills across the country, due in part to the lack of availability of alternative disposal methods in certain areas. 

To encourage more businesses to recycle their applicable waste, the Government will increase landfill taxation (LFT) on 1 April 2020. The standard rate of LFT is set to rise to £94.15 per tonne. 

A reduction in the wholesale value of recycled materials

Businesses which regularly drive recycling or waste recovery will be affected by a continued reduction in the wholesale value of recycled materials. For example, last year there was a market rebate rate of around £40 for mixed papers; currently, these are zero or even a charge of around £5 to £10 per tonne.

In addition, tighter acceptance restrictions in the Far East have seen the commodity market value of cardboard drop.

The introduction of an incineration tax 

From 1 January 2020, Holland implemented an additional tax of £29 per tonne for imported Refuse-Derived Fuel. These taxes are filtered through to other UK and European disposal outlets, and UK disposal prices have increased significantly in response.

What is Smarter Business doing?

As your waste management provider, we have taken a number of steps to ensure that we continue to offer you a fairly-priced service:

• We have fully absorbed the increased costs of these additional charges in the last few months. 
• We continue to work very closely with strategic partners in tailoring our services to be as cost-effective as possible, while maintaining a high level of service.
• Our consultants are always on hand to discuss your current waste services and see how we can maximise your business recycling and reduce the amount of general waste that will incur LFT.