Landfill Tax Increase: Its Impact on Skip Hire Companies

April 1st is slowly creeping up on us, which means it's nearly time for the increase in landfill tax. Because of this tradition, every skip company owner will be thinking about the direct impact landfill tax has on our skip prices, as any residual waste that we cannot recycle currently goes to landfill. Most if not all skip companies take the opportunity to review all their costs for the next year at this time, paying particular attention to salary increases and of course inflation. What is landfill tax? In 1996 Landfill Tax was brought in and aimed to reduce the amount of waste being produced in the UK. The idea behind it was to encourage people to use alternative methods such as recycling. It became a key factor for many organisations to reduce their reliance on landfill for managing their waste and to explore other, more sustainable and resource efficient, options for treating waste. For many year's Landfill Tax had a fixed annual increase of £8 per tonne; in 2014 this came to an end and any further increases would be due to the UK inflation rates. April 2015 will see the beginning of Landfill Tax being calculated in line with the Retail Price Index. Price increases for skip hire companies The decision to put landfill tax up in line with inflation is a pragmatic one, with which we agree. The landfill tax is already high enough to act as an incentive to recycle. Putting it up by £8 per tonne again would have only added to costs with little discernible benefit. So our prices will rise in April, but not by much. And our staff will get a pay rise, making for happier drivers on your doorstep and more productive staff in our recycling centre, which already recycles over 90% of your waste. The good news is that the landfill tax is not going up by as much this year. As the Landfill Tax has risen by £8 per tonne over the last few years, it has made the price of waste disposal very expensive, and although a crude mechanism, it has focused the waste industry's mind on other ways to deal with waste, mainly recycling, composting and energy-from-waste disposal. For more information on our skip hire services please feel free to contact us on 01493 668118.