Historically the UK has landfilled (or "dumped") much of its waste, and the engineering of a modern landfill is a complex process to prevent the escape of polluting liquid or gases.
Over recent years the UK has favoured landfill for getting rid of our rubbish and this has been possible because of our geology. The consequence of this was that landfill was relatively cheap.
However landfills harm the environment and cause a cultural nuisance. Poorly managed sites have resulted in polluted ground or surface waters and uncontrolled landfill gas generation
Additionally many current landfill sites are nearly full and the UK is rapidly running out of suitable land, close to where the waste is produced, for new landfills. Most importantly, landfill is just simply burying and losing good resources.
Waste going to landfill is now taxed. This is gradually reducing the perceived cost benefit. In 2004 the Landfill Tax rate increased by £1 to £15 per tonne. This will be increasing until it reaches a rate of £35 per tonne in the medium term; a rate which will bring the UK in line with other European countries.