Councils last year initiated 1,300 prosecutions for litter and waste breaches

Waste inspections accounted for 71% of the total carried out, the EPA said. File picture

Some 19,000 enforcement actions mostly regarding litter and waste were taken by local councils last year, but only just over 1,300 prosecutions were initiated.

Those are some of the findings of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) report on local authorities' actions in 2020, which also said that despite the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, councils still managed to carry out 180,000 inspections all round.