Waste taxes and charges
Waste tax
Waste taxes aim to promote waste recovery and reduce the amounts of waste ending up in landfills. Finland's Waste Tax Act came into force in 1996.
Waste taxes are paid on wastes left at public landfill sites, but are not applied to private or industrial landfills where these do not routinely receive wastes produced elsewhere. Waste taxes are not payable on wastes that are recovered or suitably treated through composting or incineration, for instance.
Waste taxes are paid by the owner of the landfill, who passes on the cost to the original producer of the waste through fees charged for the reception of wastes
The Ministry of the Environment assessed the effectiveness of waste tax in Finland in a report published in 2005, which indicates that waste taxation has helped to reduce the amounts of waste ending up in public landfills in spite of increasing consumption. Reductions were particularly significant for construction, commercial and industrial wastes. Taxation controls have been less effective in terms of limiting household waste.
Waste tax is set at 30 euros per tonne of waste sent to landfill. Fiscal income from waste taxation is expected to amount to some 57 million euros in 2007. The Finnish Customs authority is responsible for the collection and supervision of waste taxation. Drinks packaging tax
Drinks packaging taxes are currently paid on packages for alcoholic beverages, soft drinks, bottled water and certain other drinks packages. This form of taxation aims to further encourage the reuse of drinks packages, to reduce the quantities of such materials ending up in landfill, and to prevent litter.
The taxation level currently amounts to 0.51 euros per litre. This tax does not apply to packages covered by approved returnable deposit systems that involve the collection of packages for refilling or material recycling.
Finland’s drinks packaging taxation system has effectively encouraged consumers to return used drinks packages. Research conducted by the Pirkanmaa Regional Environment Institute showed that in 2006 almost 98% of all of the refillable drinks packages used in Finland were returned, as well as 88% of packages whose materials can be recycled.
The Government budget of 2007 included 41 million euros of fiscal income from drinks packaging taxation. It is expected that for the budget year 2008 this income from taxation will decline to around 11 million euros, since drinks packages whose materials can be recycled were removed from the scope of such taxation in the beginning of the year.
Finland’s returnable deposit system is defined in special legislation on the taxation of the manufacture of certain types of drinks packaging (1037/2004), as well as statutes in the Waste Act and a related decree on collection systems for returnable drinks packages (180/2005). Municipal waste charges
Municipal waste charges cover costs related to the establishment, maintenance, decommissioning and clean-up of waste treatment facilities, and the transportation of wastes. Waste charges are also intended to reduce the amounts of waste generated and the consequent risks, and to encourage waste recovery. Many municipalities set lower charges for sorted wastes and for wastes that can be recovered than for unrecoverable mixed wastes.
Waste charges are payable by waste holders. Rates containing detailed specifications are set by municipalities. Charges include transportation and waste treatment fees. In 2007 the average municipal waste treatment fee was €102 per tonne of waste (incl. VAT), with rates varying locally between €76 and €156 per tonne. The treatment fee for biowaste averaged € 68 per tonne.
More information on municipal waste charges is available from the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities. Oil waste charges
The prices of lubrication oils include oil waste charges of 5.75 cents per kilo. The income from these charges is used to cover the costs of managing oil wastes and cleaning up soils and groundwater contaminated with oil. In 2007 fiscal income from oil waste charges was 4,25 million euros.
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