New eco-tax could bankrupt us, local councils warn

“The current proposals would impose huge costs on councils and local taxpayers, while also risking the project failing to deliver on its objectives and leaving councils exposed to significant additional financial risk,” said Councillor Adam Hug, LGA environment spokesman.

Councillor Richard Clewer, CCN’s infrastructure and planning spokesman, added: “If these costs are to be borne by councils they will have to be met through council tax or by cutting valuable services, so we urge the new Government to rethink these proposals.”

The main place where municipal waste that is not recycled is incineration. The number of plants processing this phenomenon is expected to increase by 30 percent in the coming years.

However, the practice has been criticized by environmental activists for the amount of emissions and air pollution it produces, and concerns that recyclable waste also ends up in incinerators. One analysis found that more than half of the plastic that goes to incinerators is either “readily recyclable” or “potentially recyclable.”

Councillor Andy Graham, DCN’s environment spokesman, said: “Taxing councils for waste we have no choice but to incinerate would be a blow to the delicately balanced funding of local waste services – including councils’ successful efforts to increase recycling.

“We want to make it easier for our citizens to recycle materials like clothing and medical waste so they don’t have to be incinerated. We can only do this through producers, who should be encouraged to produce recyclable goods and penalized if they don’t.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: “We are committed to extending the UK ETS (Emissions Trading System) to include waste incineration and energy from waste treatment plants from 2028. We will continue to engage with the sector on our proposals and will publish further details in due course.”