Odour and noise issues accounted for 90 per cent of all complaints made to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last year about the 889 licensed industrial facilities it monitors, most of which are linked to food and drink production and waste processing.
A total of 22 prosecutions were concluded last year, resulting in fines of €137,750 and costs of €245,047 being imposed, according to the EPA’s industrial and waste licence enforcement summary published on Wednesday.
A first successful District Court prosecution for extraction of peat without a licence was recorded by the agency last year.
The EPA said it adopted a strategic approach in relation to its peat enforcement responsibilities, including highlighting to five local authorities where unauthorised peat extraction was occurring.
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“The EPA has been and will continue to hold those operators to account,” it said.
The agency carried out more than 1,200 inspections at 535 licensed industrial and waste facilities last year, some 91 per cent of which were unannounced.
Its national priority sites list is an important tool in targeting its enforcement efforts at the licensed operators with the poorest environmental performance. The EPA identified 11 sites on the list last year, of which five were in the food and drink sector and three were in the waste sector.
These included: Arrabawn Co-op, Co Tipperary (discharges to water); Arrow Group in Co Kildare (odour and noise); Aurivo Consumer Foods, Co Donegal (discharges to water); Eras Eco Ltd in Cork (odour); Euroflext Teoranta, Co Donegal (emissions to air); Forge Hill Recycling, Cork (waste management); Gairdini/Munster Joinery (discharges to water), Cork; North Cork Co-op Creameries Ltd (discharges to water); Timoleague Agri Gen Ltd, Co Cork (infrastructure and management); Tipperary Co-op Creamery (discharges to water); and Wellman International, Co Meath (stormwater management).
Only three of these sites remain on the priority list – North Cork Co-Op Creameries; Timoleague Agri Gen Ltd and Wellman International.
Since its launch in 2017, 50 priority sites have been identified, 17 of which were in Cork.
The report also lists sites visited 10 times or more last year. These were headed by Killarney Waste Disposal, Co Kerry (37 visits); Arrow Group (26 visits) and Eras Eco (19 visits).
Last year also saw increased focus on the management and aftercare of closed landfills, including two prosecutions against local authorities for failing to adequately manage leachate and landfill gas infrastructure.
The EPA said it also targeted licensed sites impacting on water quality under the EU Water Framework Directive requirements in seeking to enhance surface water drainage systems.
Enforcement action by the EPA last year resulted in a decrease in complaints about sites – down 36 per cent from 1,490 in 2021 to 960.
“The increased focus on the improvement of odour and noise management at EPA licensed sites has resulted in a significant reduction in the number of complaints received,” said Dr Tom Ryan, director of the EPA’s office of environmental enforcement.
“The EPA will maintain a focus on nuisance arising from licensed sites and will take enforcement action, where appropriate.”
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