By Gunnar Schupelius
The federal government demands a CO2 fee for the incineration of residual waste. This is the exact opposite of the relief that citizens are promised every day, says Gunnar Schupelius.
Residual waste that cannot be recycled and is collected in the black bin must be incinerated. This releases CO2. From January 1, 2023, the waste incineration plants should therefore pay a “climate tax” of 35 euros per tonne of CO2. This will increase the garbage fees, it is expected to be up to eight percent.
This plan was presented in July by Economics Minister Habeck (Greens) and approved by the Federal Cabinet. The Bundestag still has to agree and is currently deliberating on this. Experts were invited to a hearing last Wednesday. They spoke out against the climate tax with a large majority.
“In view of inflation and rising energy prices, it is (…) urgently necessary to prevent additional burdens on citizens and companies,” said Christine Wilcken from the German Association of Cities.
Doubts were raised as to whether the climate tax would actually achieve its goal of reducing the amount of residual waste. Because these are substances that either cannot be recycled at all or only with great effort that is not worth it. This residual waste will also be generated with the climate tax.
The President of the Federal Association of German Waste Management, Water and Recycling Management (BDE), Peter Kurth, summed it up like this: “Prices have no effect on the amount that is incinerated.” Kurth warned that the increase in the cost of incineration could lead to that residual waste is shipped abroad.
This concern is justified, because while it has been banned in Germany since 2005 to store waste in landfills, this ban does not apply in many other EU countries and outside of Europe anyway. Landfilling is much cheaper than incineration, so there could be an export of waste if the climate tax is not passed on to the waste fee.
So it can be assumed. In addition, the climate tax is to be gradually increased to 65 euros per tonne of CO2 by 2026. For Berlin, the calculation would look like this: The Ruhleben waste-to-energy plant emits around 450,000 tons of CO2 per year. Incineration here would become more expensive with the climate tax by up to 30 million euros per year.
If the climate levy is passed on to the garbage fee, this will hit low earners in particular, because the garbage fee accounts for a higher share of their disposable income than with higher salaries. Holger Thärichen, Managing Director of the Association of Municipal Enterprises (VKU), drew attention to this in the Bundestag.
The climate tax on waste is the opposite of what the government promises: citizens are offered one relief package after the other, but they are then burdened with new fees. The Green Minister Habeck goes one step further and deliberately turns the spiraling costs. You don’t get it.
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