Landfill Capacity Falls
Issued: 6 May 2008
The Environment Agency has warned that there is only in the region of 7 years tipping space left in England and Wales, with just 5 years in the East and South East England.
However, as demand for landfill space falls because of increased recycling and reuse, the available landfill space should last longer than this.
The study entitled 'Waste Data Update 2006' reveals that there were nearly 700 million cubic metres of rermaining landfill capacity in England and Wales as at 31 December 2006.The Environment Agency state that although the outlook appears to be bleak, there are a number of factors which could bring considerable changes in demand for landfill space.
The recent rise of the Landfill Tax from £24 to £32/tonne and the further rises in the next few years, will accelerate the so called 'tipping point' (pardon the pun) at which recycling and reuse becomes more cost effective than what has been relatively cheap waste disposal via landfill.
This trend will also encourage investment in and construction of, new 'merchant' facilities in England and Wales as they become more commercially viable. Other trends include an increase in composting - an additional 1 million tonnes, and an increase in incineration capacity.