Landfill Allowances and Trading Scheme (LATS) in England

The scheme now runs until  the end of 2012/13 scheme year with conclusion of trades on 30 September 2013.

Benefits of LATS

• Reduces the amount of waste sent to landfill.
• Reduces the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere from landfilling biodegradable waste.
• Supports the waste hierarchy (reduce, reuse, recycle, recover, dispose). Local authorities continue to promote waste minimisation and use positive methods to manage waste such as reuse, composting, recycling and recovery.

LATS Data Quality Visit Programme

• The Environment Agency is the monitoring authority for LATS. As part of our monitoring role we have visited Waste Disposal Authorities (WDAs) to assess systems, reporting and data quality.
• Reports of visit findings are available via our Publications Catalogue, using keyword 'LATS':

• Publications Catalogue

LATS guidance

We have issued guidance for waste authorities. For example, street sweepings and gully emptyings, end destinations, Materials Recycling Facility reject rates and how to report construction and demolition waste.

Guidance can be accessed from the WasteDataFlow website:

• Guidance notes and factsheets

LATS forecast of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) to landfill

In each scheme year we estimate how much BMW each English WDA is likely to landfill. The forecast is based on current data and updated each quarter. View our published forecasts on the WasteDataFlow website:

• LATS Forecast of BMW to Landfill

We publish the forecast to help WDAs assess how many LATS allowances they are likely to use, which can be helpful to officers involved in LATS decision making. The forecast includes an indication of its accuracy, comparison with currently held LATS allowances and an estimate of the total BMW to landfill for England.

2011/12

Forecasts for quarters 1, 2 and 3 have already been published. Following validation of quarter 4 data, each WDA was sent a reconciliation of the BMW it had landfilled on 30 August 2012.

2012/13

Quarterly forecasts will be published on or before the dates below:

7 December 2012 - forecast based on quarter 1 data
8 March 2013 - forecast based on quarter 1 and 2 data
7 June 2013 - forecast based on quarter 1, 2 and 3 data. 

Following validaton of quarter 4 data, each WDA will be sent a reconciliation of the BMW it has landfilled by 31 August 2013.