Landfill Allowances and Trading Scheme (LATS)
Summary
In England the Landfill Allowances Trading Scheme began on 1 April 2005 and all waste disposal authorities are able to trade, bank and borrow allowances.
Benefits of LATS
- Reduces the amount of waste sent to landfill which has a positive impact on the environment.
- Less landfill gas is released into the atmosphere. The major components of landfill gas are greenhouse gases, which contribute to climate change.
- Local authorities continue to promote waste minimisation and use positive methods to manage waste such as reuse, composting, recycling and recovery.
- Local authorities are able to plan their long-term waste management strategies because they know how much biodegradable municipal waste they're allowed to landfill each year up to 2020.
- Local authorities can divert more waste away from landfill and can sell their surplus allowances to generate income.
- LATS supports ‘green’ waste management, such as reusing items.
-
Frequently asked questions on reporting for LAS/LATS (Acrobat, 159KB, 2 minutes)
Our frequently asked questions will help waste disposal authorities (WDAs) apply the Government guidance to specific situations and explain the reporting requirements. If the FAQs show that any LATS / LAS data submitted before 31 March 08 is not in accordance with the Government Guidance, we do not expect you to change it if it. - The Environment Agency’s role in England
We are the monitoring authority for England. Our duties include monitoring the performance of each waste disposal authority against their allocated allowances for every year of the scheme. A scheme year runs from 1 April to 31 March. - What local authorities in England need to know
English local authorities must report through a web-based system called WasteDataFlow on the amount and type of municipal waste that they collect and manage. Reporting must be done promptly and accurately, according to quarterly deadlines. - What landfill operators in England need to know
Under the LATS, we use landfill operators’ quarterly waste returns to help check how much BMW each waste disposal authority has landfilled. - LATS visits
From 2007 to 2009 we will visit all 121 waste disposal authorities to look at the processes and systems in place for three key areas - collecting, quality assuring and reporting LATS data. We are keen to identify best practice and common issues. - Landfill Allowances and Trading Scheme results
The aim of the scheme is to meet the Landfill Directive targets and reduce the negative effects on the environment., including the greenhouse effect from landfills in England. All local authorities in England have met their landfill allowance allocations for the first two years of the scheme.
