Waste and litter offences lead to 850 environmental prosecutions in 2018

Local authorities nationwide initiated 850 environmental prosecutions during 2018, mainly due to an increase in waste and litter offences.

Many of these prosecutions were undertaken when fixed penalty notices for litter offences were not paid, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The figure is included in the EPA's latest report, monitoring how local authorities across the country enforce their environmental protection obligations.

While the councils increased their enforcement activities in 2018 and met their overall targets, more needs to be done when it comes to air quality issues, the EPA found.

Challenges also remain when it comes to inspecting illegal waste and farms.

Almost 170,000 inspections were undertaken by local authorities across the country in 2018, leading to almost 20,000 enforcement actions.

Local authorities also received more than 78,000 environmental complaints that year.

This latest report shows good performance by councils in undertaking their enforcement functions, but there are areas to be improved, according to Dr Tom Ryan, director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Enforcement.

In particular, more focus is needed on the enforcement of waste segregation in households and businesses, along with an increase in farm and air quality inspections.

"There is also an opportunity to improve information sharing between enforcement agencies to ensure that illegal waste activities are identified and tackled. The EPA will be engaging with local authorities to make this a priority in 2020.”

Given the public health risks of burning solid fuels and the health effects of air pollution, a coordinated, multi-agency approach to the enforcement of air quality issues is needed, the EPA also recommended.

This should focus on the sale of non-compliant fuels as well as the use of smokey fuels in low smoke zones.

The number of farm inspections carried out in 2018 also remained below target, with 650 less inspections undertaken than in 2017.

Local authorities also need to focus on ensuring good segregation of waste by businesses and householders to improve waste recycling, the EPA also recommended.

This includes increasing the roll-out of brown bins, and increasing their use.

When it comes to addressing illegal waste activities, coordinated action and the timely sharing of data between enforcement bodies needs to improve, the EPA also found.