Let me take you through it gently. Companies that run landfill sites can donate money to environmental projects instead of giving it to the Government.

That sounds straightforward

I simplified it for you. Now we get into all those complicated acronyms, beginning with the landfill operators.

And they’re called?

They like to be called LOs.

So LOs save money?

No, but it makes good PR. They donate to projects that improve the area within ten miles of the landfill site, which should win Brownie points with the local community.

Where does tax come in?

In 1996 the Government introduced landfill tax (LT) as a way of encouraging LOs to think of alternatives to sticking rubbish into a hole in the ground. This was called the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme, which was then shortened to . . .

I bet it’s known as LTCS

Of course it is. The LTCS is the accompanying carrot that lets LOs give a proportion of what they owe in LT to an EB or DEB instead of handing it over to GB.

You’re just being awkward

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