Landfill Allowance Scheme
The Landfill Directive (1999/31/EC) aims to reduce, as far as
possible, the negative effects of landfilling waste. It sets
targets and timescales for reducing the amount of biodegradable
municipal waste (BMW) sent to landfill and from this the UK
government has identified the maximum amount of BMW that the UK can
landfill for certain target years up to 2020. A proportion of
these targets have been allocated to Scotland. Further
information on the targets is available on the biodegradable
municipal waste page.
The Landfill Allowance Scheme (LAS) is the system which provides
a cost effective way for Scotland to meet its targets. This
scheme was introduced by the Landfill Allowance Scheme (Scotland)
Regulations 2005 (the regulations) which came into force in April
2005 and which identified SEPA as the competent monitoring
authority.
Failure to meet the BMW landfill targets may result in fines for
the UK. To ensure that Scotland does not exceed its part of
the UK’s target, the Scottish Government has allocated annual BMW
landfill allowances to each Scottish local authority until the
2009/2010 financial year. These allowances are set out in
Annex B of the Landfill Allowance Scheme (Scotland) Regulations
2005 - Scottish Executive Guidance: March 2007. Links to this
guidance and to SEPA’s operational procedures for the LAS are
available opposite.
The allowances allocated to each local authority are held in an
electronic register of landfill allowances. This register
facilitates the banking, borrowing and trading of allowances and
helps local authorities meet their individual targets.
Details of the trading system are given in the regulations.
Local authorities in Scotland use WasteDataFlow to report data
for the LAS. From this, SEPA calculates the quantity of BMW
landfilled quarterly and annually. Summaries of the BMW
landfilled by local authority and for Scotland as a whole are
available here:
The regulations also allow SEPA to audit the data collection
procedures used by local authorities. A programme of audits
has been established which covers all local authorities in
Scotland.