Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Question 155: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the current rate of the landfill levy; and his proposals to change this rate; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28556/12]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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The current landfill levy rate is €50 per tonne for each tonne of waste disposed of at landfill facilities, with the exception of certain exempted categories of waste. This rate will increase to €65 per tonne from 1 July 2012.

The landfill levy is designed to encourage a shift away from landfill to waste management practices which are higher in the internationally accepted waste hierarchy, and this increase is intended to send a strong price signal to the producers, collectors and managers of waste that the current reliance on landfill is unsustainable. In April 2011, I announced this increase, and a further planned increase to the landfill levy to €75 per tonne in July 2013, during the passage through the Dáil of the Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill. This provided the waste sector with certainty regarding landfill levy rates and also with an opportunity to prepare for the changes that these increases would require.

This Bill, which was subsequently enacted as the Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011, also provided that the levy could be increased once in any given financial year, subject to a maximum increase of €50 per tonne, and also provided for an absolute limit on the levy of €120 per tonne.