The Landfill Allowances and Trading Scheme (LATS) sets a limit on the amount of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) that each unitary and waste disposal authority in England can send to landfill. We monitor the authorities and report their performance annually.
2011/12
In 2011/12, English waste disposal authorities (WDAs) sent 6,401,199 tonnes of BMW to landfill. This is 1,375,160 tonnes less than the previous year and 2,305,468 tonnes less than the 8,706,667 original allocation for 2011/12. English waste disposal authorities used 74% of this year’s allocation.
2010/11
In 2010/11, English local authorities sent 7,776,359 tonnes of BMW to landfill. This is 667,644 tonnes less than the previous year and 2,176,972 tonnes less than local authorities could have landfilled if all 9,953,331 tonnes/LATS allowances had been used.
- In 2010/11, 30 English waste disposal authorities bought allowances worth £2,546,174 to meet their LATS obligations and no authority exceeded their allowances.
- Six years on from the start of the Scheme, 37% (12.4 to 7.7 million tonnes) less BMW is landfilled by local authorities and collectively they sent 50% less BMW to landfill than in 2001/02 when the base data was collated.
2009/10
- In 2009/10, English local authorities sent 8.4 million tonnes of BMW to landfill. This is 1 million tonnes less than the previous year and nearly 3 million tonnes less than local authorities could have landfilled if all 11.2 million tonnes of LATS allowances had been used.
- In 2009/10, 20 English waste disposal authorities bought allowances worth over £2 million to meet their LATS obligations.
- Five years on from the start of the Scheme, 32% less BMW is landfilled (it has dropped from 12.4 to 8.4 million tonnes), and England sends 46% less BMW to landfill than it did in 2001/02.
Please note previous annual reports for 2005/06, 2007/08 and 2008/09 are available from our publications catalogue:
