Moves by the UK Chancellor to make crushing bricks and reusable stone less appealing have been put on hold after a one-day demonstration by around fifty crushing companies' and skip hirers' trucks outside parliament. The change in rules would have meant crushed bricks would no longer be taxed at the 'inert' rate of £2.50 per tonne, but at the full rate of £64 per tonne.
 
The EU Waste Framework Directive no longer allows UK laws to treat crushed bricks as 'recycled' waste in landfill sites. This levelling of the playing field was specifically designed to encourage reuse.
 
Maxine Perella at Edie.net wrote that a letter from the Treasury, sent to campaigners last Friday (June 1), stated that revised guidance from Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) would result in waste transfer stations and landfill sites "reversing their fee increases" for certain materials. Within the new guidance - which the Government hotly denies is a U-turn - it states that residual materials processed at waste transfer stations such as fines from trommels and screens would be taxed at the lower rate if they can be shown to be genuinely inert. Those that can't will be subject to the standard levy.
 
There seems to be no sign of a counter-blockade of parliament by fifty reclaimed brick and stone sector trucks outside parliament to keep the tax hike.