The Environment Agency’s decision to fund its efforts to combat waste crime by charging businesses that play by the rules has been branded illogical and unjust by aggregate producers.
The Mineral Products Association (MPA) — representing companies who legitimately recycle and reuse millions of tonnes of demolition and construction waste to produce recycled aggregate as part of the circular economy or to restore former quarry sites — has criticised the EA’s plan to impose a 10% levy on compliant firms’ waste permit fees to help tackle rogue operators.
Following a consultation which ran until late January, the levy is set to come into force on sites in England regulated by the EA from April 2025, at a time when regulatory fees paid by legitimate businesses have already reached an all-time high.
The decision to impose extra costs on waste permits has frustrated the UK’s mineral operators which are recognised worldwide as operating to very high environmental standards — whether that’s recycling waste into aggregate as part of a circular economy or putting it to good use to restore former quarry sites.
MPA Executive Director Mark Russell said: “This decision is illogical and unjust. It flies in the face of the Government’s drive to kickstart economic growth, and it will discourage investment in the circular economy. Why should businesses that operate to high environmental standards — yet are facing deteriorating quality of service from the regulator — pay even more to fund unrelated crime-fighting?
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