The Waste Management Act 1996 and the Waste Management (Licensing) Regulations 2004 govern the process under which waste licences are applied for and maintained. Once granted, each waste licence defines the nature of environmentally acceptable activities that can take place at a waste facility, including the acceptable types of waste that can be received. This is done by the conditions of the licence which are set by the Environmental Protection Agency.
It is a strategic objective of the Agency to ensure that sites with significant closure and aftercare costs, or with the potential for high liabilities arising from incidents, make financial provision to cover these liabilities. To that end, the Agency secures financial provision for liabilities at licensed facilities, including waste facilities, using a range of financial instruments including secured funds, bonds, parental company guarantees and insurance policies. The attachment of conditions relating to individual community gain funds to planning permissions is a matter for the statutory planning authorities and do not fall under my remit as Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment.
