Landfill Surcharge Allowance

Landfill sites operate under the terms of a Planning Permission. Amongst the matters controlled by the permission will be the final levels to which the site must be restored. As the waste ages and decomposes the final level will settle to a lower level. In order to ensure that the agreed final levels are achieved after the majority of the decomposition and related settlement have finished, it is common to agree that the final levels can be exceeded initially - known as surcharging. The degree of surcharging permitted is agreed as a Landfill Surcharge Allowance. This figure is usually quoted as a percentage which relates to the depth of the site at each point. The percentage agreed between the planning authority and the developer will vary according to the nature of the waste accepted, the depth of fill and the morphology of the landfill void.