Greyhound ordered to take 3,000 tonnes of waste off farm

WASTE COMPANY Greyhound has been ordered to remove almost 3,000 tonnes of its waste that was being illegally stored on a farm in Co Kildare.

The company, which took over Dublin City Council’s domestic waste collection service last January, had been using the farm near Nurney to stockpile accumulated waste.

The firm’s waste had been processed and bailed before storage. It was left sitting on hard stands outdoors on the farm, which was not licensed or permitted for the storage of waste, according to Kildare County Council.

A complaint in relation to the illegal storage of waste on the farm was made to the council on May 18th. On Monday of last week council officials inspected the site and ordered that the waste be removed. Greyhound has until next Monday to take all the waste from the site.

A spokeswoman for Kildare County Council said the landowner had assumed that the storage of waste on his farm would be permitted under the licence held by Greyhound and was not aware he needed a separate licence for storing waste.

She said a site inspection would be conducted after the removal deadline. The council would then determine if further action against either the farmer or Greyhound was warranted.

The 3,000 bales of waste, each weighing just under one tonne, are made up of processed waste called RDF – refuse-derived fuel – a waste product made from extracting dry materials such as paper and plastic from general household waste. The shredded material is commonly used as fuel in cement kilns.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which provides a waste licence to Greyhound said it was also investigating the matter.

The agency said it was illegal to store waste at a site unless there was a waste permit or licence pertaining to the site. There was an exception to this rule if the waste was your own, as in the case of householders or businesses which were storing their waste in advance of a collection date.

The agency said it would also be seeking to know from what source the waste originated.

A spokesman for Greyhound yesterday said it had no comment to make.

Greyhound has previously been prosecuted by the agency in relation to breaches of its licence for waste storage.

Dublin City Council was the State’s largest waste collector, serving approximately 140,000 households, until it sold the business to Greyhound.

In January 2011, the EPA successfully prosecuted Greyhound for a number of licence breaches including storing waste outdoors without the agreement of the agency, and storing waste outside designated areas.