The UK’s waste industry has seen a frenzy of activity in recent months as companies compete to outbid each other for billions of pounds’ worth of lucrative council waste management agreements. In the past two months alone, some £2bn of contracts have been signed.

The value of these contracts depends crucially on the regulatory environment. So industry executives were relieved to hear this month that an incoming Conservative government would guarantee landfill taxes at nearly double current levels until 2020.