The Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) has issued new pollution guidelines on mobile concrete crushers so the government can achieve its landfill targets.

The move will mean lower costs and less red tape for companies using mobile concrete crushers to dispose of waste from small-scale construction sites.

The new guidelines mean that in most cases the new breed of micro-crusher – with its comparatively small pollution potential compared with conventional models – will no longer need a local authority air pollution permit.

Larger crushers will still need a permit, but the procedures have been simplified and the costs lowered. Instead of each customer needing their own permit, as was previously the case, hire companies will now be able to temporarily transfer their permit to the customer for the hire period.

Applying for a conventional crusher permit costs £1,514, plus an annual charge of £965. The charges for the new temporary transfers on micro-crushers will be £50 for the first transfer between a hirer and its customer, and £10 per transfer thereafter unless the customer has received any warning letters or enforcement action in the previous 12 months.

Mobile crushers are making an increasingly important contribution to reducing construction waste, particularly on smaller-scale projects, and will help deliver the government's sustainable construction target of halving construction, demolition and excavation waste sent to landfill by 2012, said a Defra statement.

They can significantly improve recycling rates of hard inert waste onsite and avoid the need for additional virgin aggregates and the associated transport emissions.