Recycle or pay for it - warning as landfill tax is set to double

Following the Government’s announcement that the tax, which is designed to encourage more recycling, is to go up from £48 to £80 per tonne by 2014, the GMB union has compiled a report that shows how this affects local authorities across the country.

According to current rates of recycling and composting, the hike will mean Warwick District Council’s landfill bill will almost double from £1.2 million to more than £2 million per year by 2014, while Stratford District Council’s will also significantly increase from £1 million to £1.7 million.

Cllr Dave Shilton (Con, Kenilworth Park Hill), the Warwick District councillor responsible for neighbourhood services, said: “That’s why it’s so important that everybody recycles.

“If people recycle, that tonnage will be kept to a minimum.

“It’s one hell of an increase. But we can stop that amount from increasing so much – if we can get more and more people to recycle everything they can then it is possible.”

Cllr Shilton said the council had started to introduce communal recycling receptacles at blocks of flats across the district and officials are looking into incorporating businesses into its collection scheme.

He said: “We are able to recycle more and more materials. People can put textiles into their red boxes now.

“We compost leaves we collect off the street and recycle grit that streetsweepers clear up off the roads. It’s all good news.

“But despite that, more needs to be done.

“At the end of the day, if people don’t recycle, more items will go to landfill and the cost of that will be relayed back to the ratepayer.”

Simon Jackson (Con, Burton Dassett), is the councillor responsible for environmental issues on Stratford District Council, which last year had the second highest recycling rate in the West Midlands region (58.6 per cent).

He said: “We are concentrating on trying to improve on that figure wherever we can by encouraging residents to recycle, compost and reuse anything that they wish to throw away.

“We have a service that residents use and value and we wish to encourage them to use it as much as they can.”