Bradford Council's executive member for environment and culture, Councillor Anne Hawkesworth
Bradford Council has joined a campaign by local authorities to demand that the money it spends on landfill tax be reinvested in recycling.
The Local Government Association (LGA) started the campaign in advance of this year's Budget to put pressure on the Government to return the money to councils to improve local recycling facilities.
The Council currently pays £32 a tonne in tax for rubbish sent to landfill. By 2010 this is set to rise to £48 per tonne.
This does not include fines due to be imposed by the European Union for sending rubbish to landfill, which could see Bradford Council facing a bill of several million pounds by 2013.
And authorities will be fined £150 for every tonne sent to landfill above a Government target when the penalties are introduced in 2010, leaving Bradford facing annual fines of up to £13 million.
Approximately 75 per cent of Bradford's household waste is sent to landfill. The rest is recycled or composted.
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The Council is currently looking at long-term solutions to its waste disposal and considering alternative technologies for the disposal of waste. It also aims to increase recycling in the district to 40 per cent over the next few years. A short-term contract is due to be signed shortly to treat waste through autoclaving, although some waste will still be sent to landfill.
Bradford Council's executive member for environment and culture, Councillor Anne Hawkesworth, said: "Like other executive councillors across the country, I am very disappointed that the Government has not chosen to reinvest the money we spend on landfill tax to help boost recycling in the district.
"The grim reality is that this Council will face a huge bill in 2010 and beyond for its waste, a bill that will inevitably impact on the council tax payer."
So far, 80 local authorities have signed up to the LGA campaign, which is warning that households could see an extra £70 added to their council tax bills over the next three years.
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