Landfill Tax (Austria)

Background

The landfill tax was introduced in Austria in 1989. The aim of the tax was to raise revenues to clean up contaminated sites (Bartelings, et al., 2005). The rate changed in 1996 and different rates were set depending on the technical quality of the landfill site and to the type of waste. Such that modern high technology landfill sites pay a much lower rate than sites without any anti-pollution provisions e.g. against leakage of landfill gas (Bartelings et al., 2005).

Design

In 2004, the standard rate for landfills with high technology status was 21.80 euro per tonne, whereas for other landfills it is 65 euros per tonne (to be increased to 87 euros in 2006).

According to Bartelings et al. (2005), the different rate levels have acted as an incentive to modernise the Austrian landfills and has resulted in all but four sites meeting technological standards by 1999 (whereas in 1996/97 there were 21 sites which did not meet standards).

Performance

Between 1989 and 1999 the share of household waste whose final deposit was landfill fell from 75% to 43%, but it is unclear to what extent this can be attributed (if at all) to the landfill tax or more to the various regulations, and awareness measures to encourage recycling and composting (Bartelings et al., 2005: 12).

From 2004 onwards, the "Deponieverordnung' introduced stringent restrictions on landfill authorisations such that only pre-treated and harmless waste is allowed to be landfilled (Bartelings et al., 2005).

References

Bartelings H., P. van Buekering, O. Kuik, V. Linderhof, F. Oosterhuis, 2005, Effectiveness of landfill taxation, report prepared for the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. Available at

www.ivm.falw.vu.nl/research_output/index.cfm/home_subsection.cfm/

subsectionid/FF91BCBD-EAFE-426A-ABB8184073A39BBF

Written by admin

Background

The landfill tax was introduced in Austria in 1989. The aim of the tax was to raise revenues to clean up contaminated sites (Bartelings, et al., 2005). The rate changed in 1996 and different rates were set depending on the technical quality of the landfill site and to the type of waste. Such that modern high technology landfill sites pay a much lower rate than sites without any anti-pollution provisions e.g. against leakage of landfill gas (Bartelings et al., 2005).

Design

In 2004, the standard rate for landfills with high technology status was 21.80 euro per tonne, whereas for other landfills it is 65 euros per tonne (to be increased to 87 euros in 2006).

According to Bartelings et al. (2005), the different rate levels have acted as an incentive to modernise the Austrian landfills and has resulted in all but four sites meeting technological standards by 1999 (whereas in 1996/97 there were 21 sites which did not meet standards).

Performance

Between 1989 and 1999 the share of household waste whose final deposit was landfill fell from 75% to 43%, but it is unclear to what extent this can be attributed (if at all) to the landfill tax or more to the various regulations, and awareness measures to encourage recycling and composting (Bartelings et al., 2005: 12).

From 2004 onwards, the "Deponieverordnung' introduced stringent restrictions on landfill authorisations such that only pre-treated and harmless waste is allowed to be landfilled (Bartelings et al., 2005).

References

Bartelings H., P. van Buekering, O. Kuik, V. Linderhof, F. Oosterhuis, 2005, Effectiveness of landfill taxation, report prepared for the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. Available at

www.ivm.falw.vu.nl/research_output/index.cfm/home_subsection.cfm/

subsectionid/FF91BCBD-EAFE-426A-ABB8184073A39BBF