For a few years now, some of the waste generated in Norfolk has been incinerated in the Netherlands. In 2018/19, we shipped 100,000 tonnes of waste to our allies across the North Sea. They burned it in their waste incinerator to generate electricity, and Norfolk council tax payers paid them over €13 million for the favour. This month, the Dutch government introduced a tax on imported waste – adding 32 Euros per tonne to the cost.
County Council Budget
The Eastern Daily Press reported that this potential increase in costs was discussed by the Conservative-controlled Council. Quoting Council documents:
“A risk is emerging in relation to potential pressures within the council’s waste budgets which relates to the potential implementation of import taxes on refuse derived fuel (RDF) in the Netherlands from January 2020… …the budget currently makes no provision for these potential additional costs due to the uncertainty around a number of variables which would have an impact on the overall level of the pressure.”
A final decision will be made by the full council in February.
Global Thinking
The Netherlands introduced the tax as part of a swathe of measures aimed at reducing the country’s CO2 emissions. This will likely be successful and the Dutch should be praised for the effort. Perhaps the people of Norfolk should look at alternative ways of disposing of our waste and working with our neighbours and friends to reduce UK CO2 emissions at the same time. Global thinking is needed to tackle this problem. As Elena Polisano Oceans Campaigner for Greenpeace UK told the BBC back in 2018:
“We should reduce, reuse, recycle, in that order… …when we get to the stage of deciding whether to burn or bury waste, we have already failed…â€
At WT skips, we recycle more than 90% of the waste that we collect in our skips. The remainder goes to landfill where we pay all the relevant gate fees and taxes.
If you are within our catchment area and would like to dispose of some waste with a firm that will ensure that it is disposed of responsibly, please don’t hesitate to give us a call on 01493 668118 or email info@wtskiphire.co.uk
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