John Gormley T.D., Irish Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, has announced he recently signed new regulations strengthening the law against waste disposal by uncontrolled burning, so-called backyard burning. The Waste Management (Prohibition of Waste Disposal by Burning) Regulations 2009 make more explicit the offence of disposal of waste by uncontrolled burning and various actions are prohibited by the Regulations, including such disposal within the curtilage of a dwelling. Failure to comply with the new regulations is an offence and fines of up to €3,000 are applicable for summary offences brought to court.

The regulations provide exemptions for certain agricultural practices but only as a last resort and after specified steps are taken to, inter alia, reduce, and recycle waste arisings. This exemption applies until 1 January 2014 when such activities will require registration with local authorities and be subject to the controls set out in the facility permit legislation. Local authorities may also exempt certain local cultural events if they so wish.

“The current legislative provisions are not strong enough to tackle the wholly unacceptable practice of uncontrolled burning of waste”, said the Minister. “The Environmental Protection Agency highlighted backyard burning as a significant issue in its 2005 report on ‘The Nature and Extent of Unauthorised Waste Activity in Ireland’. In that report the EPA indicated that 80 percent of local authorities had identified backyard burning as being a significant problem.”

According to the National Waste Report 2007, produced by the EPA, nationally it is estimated that 20 percent of households do not avail of a waste collection service. In some areas participation rates are as low as 55 percent and while it does not necessarily follow that the same percentage of households are illegally dumping or burning their waste, as an increasing number of people take waste directly to transfer stations and recycling centres, the likelihood is that a significant percentage of such waste is being burned. The Minister stressed that this is not acceptable and must be challenged.

The biggest source of Ireland’s dioxin emissions currently, says Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, are from uncontrolled combustion processes such as the home burning of domestic waste and backyard burning of waste. While it is obviously difficult to quantify it, the likelihood is that at least 10 percent of uncollected waste currently is disposed of by illegal burning in certain areas. In 2007, for example, an average of 80 percent of households availed of a kerbside collection service but in some areas the participation rate was as low as 55 percent.

John Gormley: “Any burning of waste that causes, or is likely to cause, pollution will now more explicitly be a breach of both the Waste Management and Air Pollution legislation and local authorities will be able to take legal action against the offenders. All local authorities have dedicated multi-disciplinary Waste Management Enforcement Teams, funded under the Environment Fund from my Department, and they should now police and prosecute breaches of the new Regulations.”

Quelle: Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government

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