Economic Instruments - Charges and taxes

Landfill Charge - Brief Summary (Germany)

Aims

• Reduce the quantity of waste landfilled, and increase the price of disposal to reflect scarcity of land and environmental externalities.

Design

• Proposed landfill charge; rates of DM 15 (ECU7.7) for inert waste and DM 25-75 (ECU 12.9-38.6) for other non-hazardous wastes, and higher charges for hazardous wastes (Ekins 1999, pp51)
• These charges are much higher than UK charges

Expectations (Ex ante Analysis)

Ex ante Evaluation:

• The charge is intended to ‘reduce the quantity of waste going to landfill,' and it is suggested ‘the proposed charge is intended to raise the cost of disposal to reflect both the scarcity value of disposal space and the present and future environmental externalities involved in landfill disposal... (T)he ‘scarcity rent' argument for the German charge reflects the specific institutional rules and relationships in Germany which prevent appropriate charges being levied to cover landfill scarcity,' (Smith 1995, pp60-61, cited in Ekins 1999, pp51)

References

• Ekins, P., 1999 ‘European environmental taxes and charges: recent experience, issues and trends,' Ecological Economics 31 (1999) 39-62, pp51

Information Request

As it is the aim of this website to provide information which is as accurate, comprehensive and up-to-date as possible, please contact us with any aditional information or studies on this topic and we will add it to the website.

Email contact: louise.dunne@ucd.ie

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