Landfill tax will not enable the circular economy: NFB

​​​​​​​NFB’s report, ‘Going Full Circle’, explores why the Government cannot just tax its way to behaviour change, particularly when the lack of infrastructure in place makes it impossible

The National Federation of Builders (NFB) has released a short report titled ‘Going full circle: Making a circular economy work for builders’, which compares how other nations deal with waste in construction.

The report also makes eight recommendations for the UK Government to move toward and enable a circular economy.

Richard Beresford, chief executive of the NFB, said: “When the Treasury consulted on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ landfill tax proposal, it was clear that Defra had not understood the system or the scale of the challenge to viability, which would make many construction projects – particularly housing – unviable and undeliverable.

“If unviable projects were not a strong enough argument against the landfill tax, then the 60-meter, 20-foot-high fly-tipping in Kidlington should reinforce the point.

“If the landfill tax doesn’t dissuade organised crime from dumping polluting rubbish, why would it work for organic, inert materials?”

The report, ‘Going Full Circle’, explores why the Government cannot just tax its way to behaviour change, particularly when the lack of infrastructure in place makes it impossible.

‘Going full circle’ highlights the current approach in England, the landfill tax proposal, two main challenges and then covers the strategies on Germany and the Netherlands.

It makes eight recommendations, including:

• Creating digital records for buildings
• Rewarding recycling and reuse
• Increasing landfill capacity
• Tackling waste crime offenders
• Retaining the Disposal permit system