Meath and Wicklow landfills to take extra waste to avert crisis

Landfills in counties Meath and Wicklow have been given the go-ahead to take an additional 120,000 tonnes of municipal waste between now and the end of the year, to prevent commercial and domestic rubbish stockpiling in the streets in the run-up to Christmas.

The decision to allow Ballynagran, near Brittas Bay, in Co Wicklow take an additional 40,000 tonnes of waste, and the Knockharley landfill near Navan, Co Meath take a further 80,000 tonnes was taken last week after crisis meetings involving the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Climate Action and Environment, the State’s three regional waste authorities and local authorities.

Writing to inform councillors of the decision to allow the Wicklow landfill site accept additional waste, Wicklow County Council chief executive Bryan Doyle said additional capacity was necessary if the State was to avoid “the very real prospect of commercial and household waste being left uncollected at the kerbside, leading to unsanitary conditions, pollution and health threats”.

He said local authorities across the State had been advised on November 11th of the “serious and urgent situation that is arising with regard to waste operators having no outlets for disposal of residual and related waste in the period up to the 31st December, 2016”.

The advisory was issued by the office controlling the State’s three regional waste authorities and stated the national shortfall in the availability of residual waste disposal or treatment capacity was primarily due to the the recent closure of the State’s largest landfill at Drehid, Co Kildare because the yearly EPA licence capacity for the facility had been substantially reached. It also noted the shortfall was also partially due to a significant reduction in the amount of waste exported in 2016 compared to previous years.

While all local authorities were asked “as a matter of urgency” to assess landfill capacity, “it soon became apparent that Knockharley in Meath and Ballynagran in Wicklow are the only two active landfills where such capacity exists and which would be capable of taking in the suggested shortfall of up to 120,000 tonnes before the end of the year”, Mr Doyle said.

His comments echoed those of the Southern Waste Region, the Connacht Ulster Waste Region and the East Midlands Region which through a joint office said the crisis could “result in commercial and household waste being left uncollected at the kerbside within days”.

According to documents seen by The Irish Times, the office of the regional waste authorities concluded in early October that the State would be left with a shortfall in licensed capacity for municipal residual waste this year, in the order of 50,000 tonnes.

The documents noted that more recently it became apparent that the 360,000 tonnes-a-year capacity at Drehid landfill would reach its capacity “prematurely due to issues with the EPA concerning waste classification and overall levels of waste accepted on the site ”.

The documents said the closure of Drehid on November 11 “further exacerbated the shortfall in capacity to the end of the year by 70,000 tonnes”.

The Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment wrote to local authorities asking them to consider using statutory powers to activate additional landfill capacity.

The EPA approved the expansion of capacity in both Wicklow and Meath on November 15. In Wicklow Mr Doyle told councillors that “in light of the emergency situation”, he had agreed to use statutory powers to facilitate the expansion.

Meath County Council has not yet commented.

Minister for Environment Denis Naughten was kept abreast of developments despite being in Marrakech, Morocco, for climate change talks.

“My primary concern and that of my officials was to avoid a situation whereby waste went uncollected, given the public health and environmental risks associated with this. My officials kept fully me appraised of the discussions and the decisions by the waste regulatory authorities,” he said.