Joint Press Release, January 13, 2025
We are currently experiencing, once again, the confrontation between the State and the Local Authorities regarding the implementation of the Landfill Tax. Each side is focusing on “where the other side is wrong”. At the same time, while significant positive steps have been taken over time, the big picture in waste management in Greece is that we remain in the bottom 2-3 places in the EU, despite significant European funding over time. If we honestly look in the mirror, we will understand that there are long-standing responsibilities of all those involved.
Let us briefly recall the background of the Landfill Tax:
- Is the Landfill Tax necessary? Experience shows that, in all countries that have implemented economic instruments for waste management (Landfill Tax, Polluter Pays, Warranty, Collect and Earn), Separation at the Source has increased dramatically and, in a few years, landfilling has decreased to single digits. This is because financial tools provide direct incentives for municipalities, businesses and citizens to mobilise and increase Separation at the Source, since with each tonne of waste separated at the source they save several dozens of euros, which is particularly supportive today, especially for economically vulnerable groups of the population. So, YES, financial tools are needed and that is why, apart from common sense, the European Commission proposes that we implement them, as they are already implemented in all advanced countries that are an example of waste management. Today, for example, the Landfill Tax in Germany is 120€/tonne and nobody complains because landfilling in Germany is almost zero!!!
- Period 2014-2019: The Landfill Tax was introduced in 2014 and was never implemented, because: a) there was no basic waste management infrastructure, b) waste was not weighed at the landfills, c) recycling faced serious problems, which the State and the Greek Recycling Organisation would not solve, d) the Brown Bin did not exist, e) we did not know what prevention was, f) sensitisation was presented as a cost and not as an investment, etc. Instead of discussing the problems and solving them, the State and local governments were reduced to confrontation, as they are today, with the result being that the Landfill Tax was not implemented and none of the problems were solved. Thus, Prevention remained non-existent, and Separation at the Source has remained stagnant until today. The Landfill Tax was set in 2014 at 30€/tonne and with a gradual increase it would reach up to 60€/tonne. On this basis, the Landfill Tax would already be 60 €/tonne by 2020.
- Period 2019-2021: In 2019, a positive financial incentive was introduced to the local authorities, according to which depending on how high a percentage of packaging recycling they achieved, they paid a lower Entry Fee to the Waste Management Organisations for mixed waste. The positive incentive was partly in place before, i.e. a municipality with a high recycling rate clearly took less tonnes of mixed waste to landfill and therefore paid less to the Waste Management Organisations. However, due to the long-standing unresolved problems in recycling, as well as the lack of information and will of the local authorities, this measure –with the additional positive incentives– did not have any effect in reducing the landfilling rate.
- Period 2021-2025: In 2021 the Landfill Tax was reintroduced by Law 4819/2021, at 20€/tonne for the year 2022 and would gradually reach 55€/tonne in 2027. In the meantime, some of the problems of the 2014-2021 period were addressed (e.g. weighing at the landfills), and the rest somehow started to enter a process of maturing and launching solutions. So today, there is an opportunity for local governments to increase their Separation at the Source (with Recycling and Brown Bin and other materials and products) and to do many Prevention actions, so that in 2-3 years they could significantly reduce their mixed waste and save significant amounts that would have been spent for the Landfill Tax (which they pay only for residual/mixed waste).
- What we can do today: It is important to learn from the past and avoid making the same mistakes. So, we should all aim to solve the real problems to at least achieve the EU’s objectives. Let us move forward, through honest dialogue, to putting forward positive proposals. Thus, apart from the obvious actions and initiatives that the State should encourage and/or fund and that the local authorities should implement (e.g. prevention actions, Brown Bin, Polluter Pays, awareness raising actions, etc.), we reiterate the following three critical proposals to positively overcome the current impasse and to witness significant improvement in the next 1-3 years:
- Converting the Landfill Tax into a fully Reciprocal Fee: As the local authorities view the Landfill Tax as yet another tax, it is suggested to be converted into a fully reciprocal fee. The amount paid by each local authority for the Landfill Tax should be placed in a special account, e.g. in the relevant Waste Management Organisation, from which the local authorities’ own actions for the first level of waste management (Prevention, Separation at the Source, Awareness, Brown Bin, Polluter Pays, etc.) would be financed.
- Self-management of organic waste by the HORECA sector (catering and hospitality businesses) with simultaneous implementation of the Polluter Pays principle: HORECAs, as large producers of organic waste, would bear the cost of managing their organic waste (collection – transport – treatment) so that the local authorities can gradually get rid of a large and difficult part of their mixed waste at no cost and be able to reduce, on average, up to about 17% the Landfill Tax and by 17% the cost of managing their waste. This can be practically implemented by creating a Polluter Pays process for the organic waste of HORECAs based on Producer Responsibility under the supervision of the Greek Recycling Organisation. At the same time, the effective and timely implementation of the Polluter Pays process in HORECAs can be prepared, and it is crucial to start immediately the standardization of procedures and methods for its implementation on a nationwide scale, with simultaneous training of all municipal authorities. So, by 2027, the Strategic Waste Management Plan for organic waste in HORECAs should be operational, as well as the Polluter Pays process for HORECAs (which, wherever implemented, has managed to reduce waste generation and significantly increase recycling). Thus, with the implementation of the Polluter Pays process, HORECAs will fully offset the operational cost of the Strategic Waste Management Plan for their organic waste.
- Establishment of appropriate composting units in old landfills: The problem with the Brown Bin throughout Greece is not its supply cost, but the question “where will the pre-sorted organic materials go?”. This can be addressed immediately and in the most cost-effective way by locating appropriate composting units on the sites of rehabilitated landfills. The cost per tonne of organic waste can be significantly lower (less than 15€/tonne), due to economies of scale, and the local authorities can take their pre-sorted organics there, so that they can reduce their mixed residues by up to 40%, reducing by the same percentage the amounts they would pay cumulatively for the Landfill Tax and the Landfill Entry Fee.
It is estimated that the effective implementation of the above three proposals can reduce by 2027 the waste management cost for local authorities by more than 150€/tonne, when the Landfill Tax will be 55€/tonne.
It is obvious that the erroneous central government arrangements (disproportionate annual Landfill Tax charge) are causing great dysfunction to the municipalities and their reaction to this is fully justified.
Let us see the current problem as a challenge to solve chronic waste management problems in our country and to reach the EU average faster.
The co-signatory Environmental NGOs:
- ARION
- ARCHELON
- Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature
- Hellenic Ornithological Society
- Society for the Protection of Biodiversity of Thrace
- Society for the Protection of Prespa
- Ecological Recycling Society*
- Greenpeace*
- iSea
- MEDASSET
- MedINA
- The Green Tank
- WWF*
*NGOs for further contact
Photo: © Canva