Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 June 2016
19. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he is satisfied with the level of enforcement, inspection and compliance relating to waste collection operators here; the inspection regime that is in place to ensure they are compliant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18455/16]
View answerWhile issues concerning the enforcement of waste legislation are a matter for local authorities who have significant powers under the waste regulations to secure compliance by waste collectors, my Department has introduced a number of measures to strengthen efforts to improve enforcement generally.
Waste Enforcement Regional Lead Authorities (WERLAs) have been established in each of the three existing waste regions with responsibility for coordinating waste enforcement actions and ensuring consistent enforcement of waste legislation, while still leaving local authority personnel as first responders on the ground to specific breaches of waste legislation. This will facilitate a transformation from process-driven enforcement, structured around separate implementation of individual regulations, to one that focuses greatest effort on the waste problems and issues that matter most and to take swift, proportionate and effective action.
The work of the WERLAs is being supported by continued funding provided by my Department for the local authority waste enforcement network. Some €8.2 million is being provided in 2016 for the retention by local authorities of 155 specialised waste enforcement officers, critical to tackling issues such as illegal dumping in local communities and in providing an enhanced response on the ground to infractions of the waste code.
A working group on the introduction of the Pay-By-Weight charging consisting of members from my Department, the WERLA’s and National Waste Collection Permit Office (NWCPO) has to date devised and completed a programme of data collection and inspections to help ensure that household waste collectors are, inter alia, weighing waste and making those weights available to customers. The first phase began in March 2015 with an information and awareness visits followed by vehicle inspections (June 2015), customer account inspections (February 2016) and back office Inspections (April 2016). There are currently further inspections on-going in coordination with the NWCPO review of waste collection permits.
An effective system of waste management is critical to the welfare of the environment and society in general and the appropriate use of enforcement powers currently being deployed by local authority waste enforcement personnel is important, both to secure compliance with the law and to ensure the provision of appropriate household waste collection services.
