Landfill fees and the waste-to-energy market: how rates steer waste streams

The fee for depositing waste in a landfill is one of the most important price signals in Polish waste management: the higher it is, the less worthwhile it is to landfill waste that can be recovered or thermally treated. The rates are unit rates, differentiated by waste code, and are announced for each year in a separate notice of the Minister of Climate and Environment.

How the fee works

The basis is the Act of 27 April 2001 – Environmental Protection Law (Prawo ochrony środowiska), under which the use of the environment, including the deposit of waste in a landfill, is subject to fees. The notice on rates is issued under Article 291(2) of that Act and contains the maximum unit rates of fees and the unit rates for gases and dust introduced into the air and for depositing waste in a landfill. The landfill fee is paid by the entity operating the landfill, and the voivodeship marshal collects the payments — hence the colloquial name "marshal's fee". Part of the revenue goes to environmental protection and water management funds.

Differentiation by code

The rate depends on the waste code, and therefore on its type and potential environmental impact. The range is wide: for many mining and mineral wastes it is a dozen to several dozen zloty per Mg, and for unsorted municipal waste (20 03 01), combustible waste – alternative fuel (19 12 10) and other waste from mechanical treatment (19 12 12) – several hundred zloty. The maximum unit rate for 2025 is PLN 418.03/Mg.

The conclusion is simple: waste that should go to recovery bears the highest fee, and low-risk mineral waste a lower one.

Effects on the waste-to-energy market

The fee does not operate in a vacuum. Together with the cost of accepting waste at the landfill (the gate fee), it forms the price against which alternative services compete:

When the landfill fee rises, the difference between landfilling and the alternatives narrows. The mechanism favours the production of RDF, increases the load on incineration plants and cement plants, and raises the prices of waste acceptance services. On the other hand, high rates can lead to undesirable behaviour: incorrect classification of codes, illegal landfilling or removal of waste beyond control.

Factors beyond the fee

The direction of the streams is also influenced by:

1. EU law. The Landfill Directive (amended by Directive 2018/850) introduces a target that in 2035 no more than 10% of municipal waste generated goes to landfills, and a rule that from 2030 waste suitable for recycling or other recovery is not accepted in landfills (with exceptions).
2. National provisions on admitting waste to landfilling and on the levels of landfilling reduction in municipalities.
3. Availability of capacity at incineration plants and cement plants — without it higher fees bring no effect, and waste moves into expensive storage.
4. Emission allowance prices and the future inclusion of incineration plants in the EU ETS.
5. The quality of separate collection — the more clean fractions, the less residual waste.

What this means for market participants

• Municipalities and municipal companies. The costs of managing residual waste depend on the price of landfilling and the availability of ITPOK. When planning municipal waste charges, it is worth taking rate trends into account.
• MBT installations and sorting plants. The profitability of RDF production is sensitive to the difference between the landfill fee and the fuel customer's gate fee.
• Incineration plants. The landfill fee is a reference point in setting gate fees.
• Landfills. Their role is shifting towards accepting residues from processing.

Pitfalls

• Assuming that the rates are constant: they are announced every year.
• Confusing the fee for depositing waste in a landfill with the municipal waste management fee paid by residents.
• Overlooking the differences between codes: wrong classification of waste changes the amount of the fee.

Before calculating, it is worth checking the current notice and the list of codes for your waste, and basing investment decisions on price scenarios rather than on the rate from a single year.

How to calculate a comparison of management routes

A practical calculation for a stream of residual waste compares the total cost of a tonne of waste on each route. For landfilling it consists of the landfill's gate fee, the fee for depositing waste in a landfill, and transport. For thermal treatment — the incineration plant's gate fee (which includes the cost of flue gas cleaning, management of residues and depreciation) and transport, possibly reduced by energy revenues. For RDF production — the cost of preparation, collection of the fraction unsuitable as fuel and the fee to the fuel customer. Only putting these items side by side shows at what level of landfill fee the cheapest route changes. It is worth doing this in several scenarios, because the prices of the services of incineration plants and cement plants depend on how full their capacity is, and the statutory rates are updated every year.

Side effects of high fees

A high fee does not always mean better waste management. Control over waste codes and documentation must keep pace with the incentive to "circumvent" them. Too rapid a rise in landfilling prices without expanding the capacity of incineration plants and sorting plants ends in waste piling up in warehouses, fire risk and increases in charges for residents. Fees should therefore go hand in hand with investment in capacity and the development of separate collection, not replace them.

This text is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice; before an investment or formal decision, check the current wording of the legislation and consult a lawyer or the competent authority.