MORE THAN 90% of complaints made to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) about waste facilities related to odour concerns.

In total, the EPA received 550 complaints in 2013 relating to licenced waste sites. Of these 92% were related to odour.

275 inspections were carried out at licenced sites with 6 prosecutions being taken and fines and costs totaling €86,000.

Report 

In a new report today it was also shown that more than half of all legal actions taken by the agency were against waste operators.

This was considered disproportionately high considering that waste licences only account for 15% of all EPA licences issued.

The EPA’s responsibilities include issuing environmental licences, waste management and monitoring impact on the environment. 

There are more than 600 waste facilities permitted by local authorities in Ireland and more than 1,000 waste collection permits in force.

Following today’s report, it has been suggested by the EPA that reorganisation of local authority enforcement structures would allow more effective enforcement of waste regulation.

The new figures – which relate to 2013 – also found that there had been a reduction in the amount of waste being landfilled to 714,000 tonnes from more than 1 million tonnes a year before.

There had also been doubling in the amount of waste being exported for use as fuel.  

“Need for waste operators to improve environmental compliance”

Speaking about today’s report, director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Enforcement, Gerard O’Leary, said, “there is a need for waste operators to improve environmental compliance by tackling priority areas such as odour management and waste handling.”

Residents living near waste facilities should not be subject to odour nuisance. The EPA sill continue to take strong enforcement action to tackle these priority areas.

There is no excuse for poor performance. Under the conditions of their licence waste operators are not permitted to exceed waste tonnage limits and must ensure that the necessary infrastructure to prevent odour nuisance is in place and operating correctly.

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