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Minister Signs Waste Management (Collection Permit) Regulations 2007 and Waste Management (Facility Permit and Registration) Regulations 2007

30/12/07


Mr. John Gormley, T.D., Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government today (30 December) announced that he had recently signed the Waste Management (Collection Permit) Regulations 2007 and the Waste Management (Facility Permit and Registration) Regulations 2007.

The Regulations, which come into effect on 31 March 2008, amend and replace the Waste Management (Permit) Regulations, 1998 and the Waste Management (Collection Permit) Regulations, 2001 respectively and provide for a system of permitting by local authorities of commercial waste collection activities and the permitting or registration of waste facility activities.

The Regulations, which were subject to wide scale public consultation have taken a considerable time due to the complexity of the issues needing to be addressed and will assist in:

· Facilitating recovery activities to the greatest extent practicable.

· Minimising the considerable administrative and cost burden on applicants.

· Harmonising administration and implementation of the permitting and registration system.
 
The Minister noted that, “the review of the waste management regulations forms just one part of my approach to modernising the regulation of the waste management sector and is complimentary to the Government’s intention to establish an appropriate regulatory framework”.

A comprehensive Guidance Note will now be prepared for the local authorities by the Environmental Protection Agency, and a steering committee comprising representatives of the Department and of the other public bodies with statutory responsibility will be established to oversee the process. Extensive consultation with other key stakeholders is envisaged as part of that process.

Training will also be provided for local authority staff to seek to ensure that all commercial collectors permitted by an authority will be subject to equivalent controls and obligations, and that conditions attaching to permits should not be such as to distort competition between operators and should be reasonable and proportionate.
 
“We will continue to monitor and review the regulations in practice and I look forward to working with all the stakeholders over the next few years to ensure that local waste collection and facility activities operate to a high environmental standard, including in conformity with the polluter pays principle and, in relation to collection services, the principle of pay-by-use”, the Minister concluded.

ENDS

Note for Editors
Waste Management (Collection Permit) Regulations 2007 and Waste Management (Facility Permit and Registration) Regulations 2007


The primary purpose of the permitting system is to facilitate appropriate controls on commercial waste activities for the purposes of environmental protection and to facilitate the implementation of, and achievement of relevant objectives in, waste management plans.

Key changes to Waste Management (Collection Permit) Regulations 2008

· Provides operators with the option of applying for a permit for specified regions or multi regions by means of a single application to a single nominated authority.

· Extend the time period for a collection permit from 2 to 5 years.

· Empower local authorities to recover all or part of the reasonable costs incurred by them in ongoing monitoring of compliance with a collection permit, including the costs of inspections and investigations.

· Provides for conditions to be attached to collection permits specifying the requirements to be complied with in respect of the types and quantities of wastes collected and the place or places to which waste concerned may or shall be delivered for recovery or disposal.

· Local authorities have the absolute discretion to refund or waive all or part of the fees payable where it is satisfied that the payment of the full fee would not be just and reasonable having regard to the limited nature or scale of the activity concerned or where the charging of the full fee would act as a disincentive to companies or individuals who are operating on a small scale or are engaged in environmentally beneficial operations such as waste recovery or recycling

· Empower local authorities to revoke a collection permit.


Key changes to Waste Management (Facility Permit and Registration) Regulations 2008

· Provision to enable the EPA to decide on whether, having regard to particular circumstances, the facility requires a waste licence or permit.

· Empower local authorities to recover all or part of the reasonable costs incurred by ongoing monitoring of compliance with a facility permit, including the costs of inspections and investigations.

· A local authority shall not grant a waste facility permit unless it is satisfied that the facility is planning compliant. 

· Empower local authorities to attach such conditions to a waste facility permit as are necessary to give effect to the objectives of regional Waste Management Plans or the National Hazardous Waste Management Plan.

· Empower local authorities to attach such conditions to a waste facility permit as are necessary to encourage sound environmental management of waste and in particular to encourage waste prevention, re-use, recycling and recovery.

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