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Landfill Allowances and Trading Scheme (LATS) in England

In England the Landfill Allowances and Trading Scheme (LATS) began on 1 April 2005 and all waste disposal authorities are able to trade, bank and borrow allowances

Benefits of LATS

  • Reduces the amount of waste sent to landfill which has a positive impact on the environment.
  • Less landfill gas is released into the atmosphere. The major components of landfill gas are greenhouse gases, which contribute to climate change.
  • Local authorities continue to promote waste minimisation and use positive methods to manage waste such as reuse, composting, recycling and recovery.
  • Local authorities are able to plan their long-term waste management strategies because they know how much biodegradable municipal waste they're allowed to landfill each year up to 2020.
  • Local authorities can divert more waste away from landfill and can sell their surplus allowances to generate income.
  • LATS supports 'green' waste management, such as reusing items.

LATS Data Quality Visit Programme.
  • Between April 2006 and April 2009 118 Waste Disposal Authorities were visited to assess systems and data quality.
  • During 2009/10 we carried out 25 visits to either new unitary authorities or revisits to existing authorities.
  • In 2010/11 we are continuing to visit around 43 authorities, reports will be published by the end of April 2011. 
  • Reports of visit findings are available via our Publications Catalogue, using keyword 'LATS':

LATS forecast of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) to landfill

In each scheme year we estimate how much BMW each English Waste Disposal Authority (WDA) is likely to landfill. It is based on current data and updated each quarter. View our published forecasts on the WasteDataFlow website:

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 forecasts include an indication of its accuracy, comparison with currently held LATS allowances and an estimate of the total BMW to landfill for England.

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

6 December 2011 - forecast based on quarter 1 data
4 March 2012 - forecast based on quarter 1 and 2 data
3 June 2012 - forecast based on quarter 1, 2 and 3 data 

After quarter 4 data has been validated, each WDA will receive a reconciliation of the BMW it has landfilled by 31 August 2012.