L&S Waste warns of fly tipping increase due to fuel duty tax hike

L&S Waste Management is warning that the impending fuel tax hike on red diesel users will lead to an increase in fly tipping across the UK.

HM Treasury has announced that from 1^st April 2022 it will introduce a ban on certain industries using red diesel in plant & equipment. This will require businesses to use road going (white) diesel that is taxed at the standard rate.

L&S Waste Management Finance Director, Paul Tiddiman, said: “The waste industry is rapidly becoming the biggest tax collector in the country, consider that we already pay £96 per tonne in landfill tax and now the prospect of 45p/litre on fuel and then 20% vat on top of that as well. These new measures will double our fuel costs, which we simply cannot absorb as a business, so it will ultimately lead to price increases.

“Unfortunately, as the cost of waste management and skip hire services increase, so does the likelihood of fly-tipping. We have already seen evidence of this when charges were introduced for tipping non-household waste at local Household Waste recycling Centres (HWRCs).”

L&S Waste Management Managing Director, Mick Balch, said: “The Government claim that this latest move is to encourage red diesel users to switch to more sustainable fuels – with the idea being that the more expensive diesel is, the greater the motivation to improve energy efficiency and adopt cleaner alternatives. While there is no denying that diesel isn’t the most environmentally friendly of fossil fuels, the reality is that for us and many other heavy plant and equipment operators, there is simply no alternative green option.

“The Government has acknowledged that these changes will be a challenge for many sectors, however on 2nd April 2022 many will have no option but to continue using diesel plant with the higher rate tax. In our opinion this is clearly an exercise to generate more revenue and less about the environmental impacts. Either way it’s a short-sighted standpoint as it will hit both trade and domestic skip users in the pocket, and ultimately cost local authorities more with the cost of clearing up the inevitable increase in the use of unlicensed waste operators and illegal fly-tipping.”

L&S Waste Management runs a fleet of 100 vehicles across its three sites in Portsmouth, Fareham and Southampton, delivering a full range of waste management, concrete, aggregate and portable toilet services. The firm has invested over £3 million to ensure it operates the most environmentally friendly HGV fleet possible, with the latest EURO 6 engines. It has also spent over £250,000 joining the voluntary Fleet Operators Recognition Scheme (FORS), to ensure that its drivers set an example in terms of safety. Further investments have also been made by the company in a number of local community and environmental projects to try and minimise the environmental impact of its operations where realistically possible.