Ireland could raise landfill tax

Gormley, who addressed around 300 delegates at a conference on environmental policy and management in Dublin this week, said he also wanted to introduce a similar tax on incinerators.

"I do not see why incineration should not be subject to the same financial regime as landfills," he said.

Gormley said that building large-scale incineration facilities could undermine efforts to reduce waste and improve recycling in Ireland.

Imposing these taxes would ensure that local authorities did not introduce any measures to "skew the market in favour of either landfill or incineration" by directing or guaranteeing waste streams to such facilities.

He said alternative technologies, such as mechanical and biological treatment, built on a smaller scale, provided much better scope for reducing reliance on landfill.

Gormley also wants to introduce additional levies to encourage people to be more environmentally responsible. He said a tax on "junk food packaging" could be introduced by 2012.

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