Bad smells main public complaint to environment agency

BAD smells from factories and dumps are the primary cause of complaints made by members of the public to the Environmental Protection Agency’s enforcement office (OEE).

The first report of the office, set up in late 2003 in response to a spate of illegal dumping scandals in Co Wicklow, showed there were 1,123 complaints from the public last year, and 1,077 in 2004.

While illegal dumping was originally the main problem, the concern currently raised most frequently is of odours from legal and licensed landfill sites, factories, timber plants and intensive agriculture.

Ironically, according to Dara Lynott, director of the OEE, tighter regulation of industry and better recycling practices in recent years are believed to have contributed to the upsurge in smells.

“When we started licensing timber facilities, many of the very small ones were consolidated, so you have more concentrated activity in facilities that are not yet set up to manage odour,” he said.

“It’s the same with waste facilities. We have 81 licences issued but just 36 sites are active and that will probably fall to about 20.”

Mr Lynott said that as people have improved at separating “smelly waste”, such as — foodstuffs, it is collected less often and by the time it gets to the waste transfer station and landfill it is older, contributing to bad odours.

Waste facilities are obliged to minimise odours and can be prosecuted for persistent failure to address the problem.

Mr Lynott, however, said responsibility lay with the public in the first instance. “We have to compost more,” he said.

Most complaints are handled without the need for prosecution because the operator takes corrective action when confronted by the OEE.

Meanwhile, there were 20 prosecutions before the courts last year with fines and costs totalling €189,125. In 2004, there were 17 prosecutions, resulting in fines and costs of €134,938.

Kieran O’Brien, who is in charge of licensing enforcement, said the amounts levied in court were not a true indicator of the full financial penalty imposed on operators.

“We estimate licensees have made improvements and taken corrective measures that cost them about €19 million as a result of enforcement notices. That does two things — it teaches them a lesson but it also fixes the problem so it shouldn’t recur.”

In a landmark move last year, files on three persistent offenders that were passed to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) ended up in the circuit criminal court. Three more files have since been referred to the DPP and several other cases are being prepared for referral.

OEE legal officer Lorraine Fegan said the increase in court activity was due to greater reporting of complaints by the public and strengthened internal investigative powers, as well as growing links with the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Criminal Assets Bureau.

Up to 100 new waste enforcement officers have been employed by local authorities in the past two-and-a-half years.