A weak economy, access to finance and the high tax burden are issues that are consistently raised by small businesses day-in day-out.  No surprise there.  But what if I was to say that waste was an issue raised just as a commonly by small businesses as any of the above?

Yup, it’s a huge issue for members of the Federation of Small Business.  Why? Because small businesses find it extremely difficult to access suitable waste and recycling services.

Local authorities

Around half of all local authorities do not offer a business waste collection service leaving firms to turn to the private waste/recycling sector.  However, small businesses are often seen as commercially unattractive by the private waste/recycling sector due to the small quantities of waste they produce.  Indeed, the FSB is becoming increasingly concerned that many of our members who do not have their waste collected by a local authority often can only attract the services of one private waste/recycling company and are initially offered a competitive price but are then subject to regular uncompetitive price increases.

Landfill targets

Yet even small businesses whose local authority does offer business waste collection services have a tough time due to the UK’s strict landfill divergence targets.  Under the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS) councils face tough allowances for the amount of Biodegradable Municipal Waste (BMW) they are able to send to landfill and even tougher penalties for not meeting these targets.  Waste collected from small businesses by a local authority is classed as BMW and counts towards its LATS allowance.

Since local authorities face severe financial penalties if they exceed their LATS allowance the scheme acts a strong incentive not to offer business waste collection services or to offer such a service at a price that is deliberately uncompetitive.

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