Waste Management Act , 1996

PART I Preliminary and General

1. Short title and commencement.

1.—(1)This Act may be cited as the Waste Management Act, 1996.

(2)This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as, by order or orders made by the Minister under this section, may be fixed therefor either generally or with reference to a particular purpose or provision and different days may be so fixed for different purposes and different provisions:

Provided that if immediately before the expiration of the period of 2 years from the date of passing of this Act, this Act has not been commenced by an order under this section or any provision or provisions thereof remains or remain to be commenced by such an order (including as respects a particular purpose), this Act or the said provision or provisions shall come into operation (or, in the case of such provision or provisions that remains or remain to be commenced for a particular purpose, shall come into operation for that purpose) upon the expiration of the said period.

2. Community acts given effect to by this Act.

2.—The purposes for which the provisions of this Act are enacted include the purpose of giving effect to the Community acts specified in the Table to this section.

TABLE

F1[…]

F1[…]

Council Directive 76/403/EEC of 6 April, 1976 on the disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls and polychlorinated terphenyls^1

Council Directive 80/68/EEC of 17 December, 1979 on the protection of groundwater against pollution caused by certain dangerous substances^2

F2[Directive No. 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment^3 F3[, as amended by Directive 2014/52/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014^2

Council Directive 86/278/EEC of 12 June, 1986 on the protection of the environment, and in particular of the soil, when sewage sludge is used in agriculture^4

F1[…]

Council Directive 87/217/EEC of 19 March, 1987 on the prevention and reduction of environmental pollution by asbestos^5

Council Directive 89/369/EEC of 8 June, 1989 on the prevention of air pollution from new municipal waste incineration plants^6

F1[…]

Council Directive 91/157/EEC of 18 March, 1991 on batteries and accumulators containing dangerous substances^7

Council Directive 91/271/EEC of 21 May, 1991 concerning urban waste water treatment^8

F1[…]

Commission Directive 93/86/EEC of 4 October, 1993 adapting to technical progress Council Directive 91/157/EEC on batteries and accumulators containing certain dangerous substances^9

F4[Council Directive 1999/31/EC of 26 April 1999^10on the landfill of waste and Council Directive 2011/97/EU of 5 December 2011 amending Directive 1999/31/EC as regards specific criteria for the storage of metallic mercury considered as waste]

F5[Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2006 on shipments of waste^11

European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62/EC of 20 December, 1994 on packaging and packaging waste^12

F6[F1[…]

European Parliament and Council Directive 2000/53/EC of 18 September, 2000 on end-of-life vehicles^13

European Parliament and Council Directive 2000/76/EC of 4 December, 2000 on the incineration of waste^14

F7[European Parliament and Council Directive 2002/95/EC of 27 January 2003^15on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment

European Parliament and Council Directive 2002/96/EC of 27 January 2003^16on waste electrical and electronic equipment

European Parliament and Council Directive 2003/108/EC of 8 December 2003^17amending Directive 2002/96/EC on waste electrical and electronic equipment]

F8[Directive 2006/21/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006^18on the management of waste from extractive industries

F9[…]

Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on waste and repealing certain Directives]

3. F10[Non-application of this Act.

3.—(1) This Act shall not apply to—

(a) gaseous effluents emitted into the atmosphere and carbon dioxide captured and transported for the purposes of geological storage and geologically stored in accordance with Directive 2009/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009^19on the geological storage of carbon dioxide or excluded from the scope of that Directive pursuant to Article 2(2) of that Directive,

(b) land (in situ) including unexcavated contaminated soil and buildings permanently connected with land,

(c) uncontaminated soil and other naturally occurring material excavated in the course of construction activities where it is certain that the material will be used for the purposes of construction in its natural state on the site from which it was excavated,

(d) the dumping (within the meaning of theDumping at Sea Act 1981(No. 8 of 1981)) of waste at sea,

(e) radioactive waste,

(f) decommissioned explosives, or

(g) faecal matter, if not covered bysubsection (2)(b), straw and other natural non-hazardous agricultural or forestry material used in farming, forestry or for the production of energy from such biomass through processes or methods which do not harm the environment or endanger human health.

(2) This Act shall not apply to the following to the extent that they are covered by other Community acts:

(a) waste waters;

(b) animal by-products, including processed products covered by Regulation (EC) No. 1069/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009^20laying down health rules as regards animal by-products and derived products not intended for human consumption and repealing Regulation (EC) No. 1774/2002 (Animal by-products Regulation)F11[, except those which are destined for incineration, landfilling or use in a biogas or composting plant];

(c) carcasses of animals that have died other than by being slaughtered, including animals killed to eradicate epizootic diseases, and that are disposed of in accordance with Regulation (EC) No. 1069/2009;

(d) waste resulting from prospecting, extraction, treatment and storage of mineral resources and the working of quarries covered by Directive 2006/21/EC.

F12[(e) substances that are destined for use as feed materials as defined in point (g) of Article 3(2) of Regulation (EC)No 767/200910 of the European Parliament and of the Council and that do not consist of or contain animal by-products.]

(3) Without prejudice to obligations under other relevant Community acts, this Act shall not apply to sediments relocated inside surface waters for the purpose of managing waters and waterways or of preventing floods or mitigating the effects of floods and droughts or land reclamation if it is proved that the sediments are non-hazardous.]

4. F14[Definitions of “activity”, “disposal”, “hazardous waste”, “recovery” and “waste”.

4.(1) In this Act—

“activity”includes operation;

“disposal”—

(a) means any operation which is not recovery even where the operation has as a secondary consequence the reclamation of substances or energy, and

(b) without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (a), includes the disposal operations listed in theThird Schedule,

and“waste disposal activity”shall be construed accordingly;

“hazardous waste”means waste which displays one or more of the hazardous properties listed in theSecond Schedule;

F13["non-hazardous waste" means waste which is not covered by the definition of hazardous waste.]

“recovery”—

(a) means any operation the principal result of which is waste serving a useful purpose by replacing other materials which would otherwise have been used to fulfil a particular function, or waste being prepared to fulfil that function, in the plant or in the wider economy, and

(b) without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (a), includes the recovery operations listed in theFourth Schedule,

and "waste recovery activity" shall be construed accordingly;

“waste”means any substance or object which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard.

(2) A reference in this Act to waste shall be construed as including a reference to hazardous waste.]

5. Interpretation generally.

5.—(1)In this Act, save where the context otherwise requires—

“the Act of 1963” means the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963;

“the Act of 1987” means the Air Pollution Act, 1987;

“the Act of 1992” means the Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1992;

F15[“Act of 2022”means the Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022;]

“aftercare” means, in relation to a facility which has been used for the purpose of waste recovery or disposal, any measures that are necessary to be taken in relation to the facility for the purpose of preventing environmental pollution following the cessation of the activity in question at the facility;

“the Agency” means the Environmental Protection Agency established under section 19 of the Act of 1992;

“any Minister of the Government concerned” means any Minister of the Government (other than the Minister) who, having regard to the functions vested in him or her, in the opinion of the Minister might be concerned with or interested in the matter in question;

F15[“approval”, in relation to a proposal undersection 14A(4), means an approval given undersection 14A(5)or renewed undersection 14A(11)in respect of the CCTV scheme which is the subject of the proposal;

“approved CCTV scheme”means a CCTV scheme which is the subject of a proposal in respect of which an approval is in being;]

F16[“authorised person”meansF17[(other than insection 10A)]a person who is appointed in writing by—

(a) the Minister,

(b) a local authority,

(c) the Agency,

(d) the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána (or a member of the Garda Síochána nominated by that Commissioner for the purposes of appointing authorised persons under this Act), or

(e) such other person as may be prescribed,

to be an authorised person for the purposes of this Act or any Part or section thereof;]

“authorised waste collector” means a holder of a waste collection permit that is in force;

F15[“automatic number plate recognition device”means a device which engages an automated method of recognising vehicle registration plates from a camera image;]

F18["backfilling" means any recovery operation where suitable non-hazardous waste is used for purposes of reclamation in excavated areas or for engineering purposes in landscaping. Waste used for backfilling must substitute non-waste materials, be suitable for the aforementioned purposes, and be limited to the amount strictly necessary to achieve those purposes;]

F19[“best available techniques”means best available techniques as defined in Article 2(12) of Directive 2008/1/EC;]

F15[“biometric data”has the meaning given to it by section 69 (1) of the Data Protection Act 2018;]

F20["bio-waste" means biodegradable garden and park waste, food and kitchen waste from households, offices, restaurants, wholesale, canteens, caterers and retail premises and comparable waste from food processing plants;]

F15[“body-worn recording device”means a recording device affixed to or contained in the clothing, uniform or headgear of an authorised person;]

F19[“broker”means any person arranging the recovery or disposal of waste on behalf of others, including any such person that does not take physical possession of the waste;]

F15[“CCTV scheme”has the meaning given to it bysection 14A(1);]

F15[“closed circuit television”or“CCTV”means a system of recording devices the signals of which are not made publicly available but are monitored, or are capable of being monitored, by a local authority;

“code of practice”means a code of practice approved by the Minister in accordance withsection 14Cand includes part of a code of practice;]

F19[“collection”means the gathering of waste, including the preliminary sorting and storage of waste for the purposes of transport to a waste treatment facility;]

“commercial waste” means waste from premises used wholly or mainly for the purposes of a trade or business or for the purposes of sport, recreation, education or entertainment but does not include household, agricultural or industrial waste;

“Community act” means an act adopted by an institution of the European Communities;

F18["construction and demolition waste" means waste generated by construction and demolition activities;]

“contravention” includes, in relation to any provision, a failure or refusal to comply with that provision, and “contravene” shall be construed accordingly;

F19[“dealer”means any person who acts in the role of principal to purchase and subsequently sell waste, including any such person who does not take physical possession of the waste;]

F21[“development”has the meaning assigned to it bysection 3of thePlanning and Development Act 2000]

F22["EIA Directive" means Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011^1as amended by Directive 2014/52/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014^2;]

“emission” has the meaning assigned to it by the Act of 1992;

“emission into the atmosphere” means the emission of a pollutant, within the meaning of the Act of 1987, into the atmosphere;

F23[“emission limit value”means the mass, expressed in terms of a specific parameter, concentration or level of an emission, or both a specific concentration and level of an emission, which may not be exceeded during one or more periods of time;]

F24[“Environment Fund”has the meaning assigned to it bysection 74;]

F42[…]

F21[“environmental impact assessment”shall be construed in accordance withsection 40(2A);]

F22["environmental impact assessment report" shall be construed in accordance withsection 40(2A);]

F25[F26[…]]

“environmental medium” has the meaning assigned to it by the Act of 1992;

“environmental pollution” means, in relation to waste, the holding, transport, recovery or disposal of waste in a manner which would F27[…] endanger human health or harm the environment, and in particular—

(a) create a risk to waters, the atmosphere, land, soil, plants or animals,

(b) create a nuisance through noise, odours or litter, or

(c) adversely affect the countryside or places of special interest;

“established activity” means—

(a) in relation to an activity the carrying on of which requires a waste licence, an activity—

(i) in respect of which a permission under Part IV of the Act of 1963 is granted before the date prescribed under section 39 (1) in respect of that activity (“the relevant date”) and which permission on that date has not ceased to have effect in accordance with the provisions of sections 2 and 4 of the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1982, or

(ii) which is, immediately before the relevant date, being carried on or was, at any time during the period of 12 months ending on the said date, carried on, other than an activity which involves or is associated with an unauthorised structure or an unauthorised use within the meaning of the Act of 1963, and

(b) in any other case, an activity which was being lawfully carried on immediately before the commencement of the provision concerned of this Act that requires the use of the F28[best available techniques];

“European Communities” has the meaning assigned to it by the European Communities Act, 1972;

“European Waste Catalogue” means the list of waste set out in Commission Decision 94/3/EC of 20 December, 1993^1, (made pursuant to Article 1 (a) of Council Directive 75/442/EEC^2 on waste) and includes such list as amended from time to time;

F24[“executive function”means a function other than a reserved function;]

F18["extended producer responsibility scheme" means a set of measures taken by Member States to ensure that producers of products bear financial responsibility or financial and organisational responsibility for the management of the waste stage of a product’s life cycle.]

F15[“facial recognition device”means a device or system of devices which, through automated use of biometric data, matches or categorises facial images captured by the device;]

“facility” means, in relation to the recovery or disposal of waste, any site or premises used for such purpose;

F18["food waste" means all food as defined in Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002^11of the European Parliament and of the Council that has become waste;]

“functions” includes powers and duties and references to the performance of functions include, as respects powers and duties, references to the exercise of the powers and the carrying out of the duties;

F29[…]

“household waste” means waste produced within the curtilage of a building or self-contained part of a building used for the purposes of living accommodation;

F30[“Industrial Emissions Directive”means Directive 2010/75/EU^1of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control) (Recast);]

“industrial waste” includes waste produced or arising from manufacturing or industrial activities or processes;

F30[“integrated pollution control activity”has the same meaning as it has in section 3 (amended by Regulation 4 of the European Union (Industrial Emissions) Regulations 2013) of the Act of 1992;]

“land” includes any subsoil thereunder and structure thereon and land covered with water (whether inland or coastal);

F31[“landfill”means a waste disposal site for the deposit of waste onto or into land (i.e. underground), including:

(a) internal waste disposal sites (i.e. landfill where a producer of waste is carrying out its own waste disposal at the place of production), and

(b) a permanent site (i.e. more than one year) which is used for temporary storage of waste, but excluding

(c) facilities where waste is unloaded in order to permit its preparation for further transport for recovery, treatment or disposal elsewhere, and

(d) storage of waste prior to recovery or treatment for a period less than three years as a general rule, or

(e) storage of waste prior to disposal for a period less than one year.]

“leachate” means any liquid percolating through deposited waste and emitted from or contained within a landfill;

“local authority” means—

(a) in the case of a county borough, the corporation of the county borough, and

(b) in the case of any other administrative county, the council of the county,

and references to the functional area of a local authority shall be construed accordingly;

F24[“manager”means—