UT (Tax & Chancery) UT/2023/000101 - [2025] UKUT 00072 (TCC)

Mr Nawbatt emphasised the environmental policy and guidance which underpins landfill tax. We were taken to guidance from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs issued in November 2010 and June 2011. The policy and guidance are really a function of the environmental objectives we have already discussed. The common theme to the guidance is driving wastes up the waste hierarchy with disposal being a last resort, and substituting wastes for raw materials where possible. It refers to mixing wastes with other materials, for example mixing acids and alkalis to adjust pH. It also refers to using the neutralisation capacity of a waste to replace lime in a neutralisation treatment. Landfill for hazardous wastes should be used only where there is no better recovery or disposal option.

The guidance specifically referred to APCR, explaining that APCR was hazardous because it was highly alkaline and contained heavy metals.It gave as an example of recovery within the waste hierarchy that lime-based waste could be used in cement manufacture as a replacement for lime as a raw material. It also stated that where possible APCR should be used as a replacement for lime in a neutralisation process.