New €10 waste levy on soil and stone will add thousands to cost of new homes, claim builders

Measure is aimed at driving recycling rates in sector but operators claim facilities are not there yet

'If the planned €10 per tonne tax is added it will increase the cost of a project by €550,000,' said one operator. Photo: Stock image/ Getty

Fearghal O'Connor

A new €10 levy on soil and stone taken from construction sites will add thousands of euro to the price of new homes, it is claimed.

The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications is now at loggerheads with operators in the sector after it gave them a 14-week warning that from September 1 it will remove the waste levy exemption on soil and stone taken from sites and reused to backfill quarries and on other projects.