Ireland dumping too much hazardous waste on Britain, report warns

Ireland is too dependent on Britain to take our hazardous waste, with concerns growing about what will happen after Brexit.

Ireland dumping too much hazardous waste on Britain, report warns

Ireland is too dependent on Britain to take our hazardous waste, with concerns growing about what will happen after Brexit.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has warned that Irish exports of hazardous waste are growing, with half of it — almost 95,000 tonnes a year — going to Britain for incineration and disposal.

“There remains some uncertainty surrounding what impacts there will be post-Brexit and any future trade agreements,” it warns.

It says there must be “greater focus and increased effort” on “increasing Ireland’s level of capacity for self-sufficiency with regard to the treatment and management of hazardous waste”.

Ireland produces less hazardous waste per capita than the European average but that still amounted to 371,000 tonnes in 2016, of which 186,000 tonnes were exported, with Germany, Belgium, and Britain taking 90% between them.

The total exported increased by 11% in 2016 on top of a 6% increase in 2015.

Solvents made up 37% of what was sent abroad but exports also included large amounts of electronics, batteries, cement kiln dust and healthcare waste.

Publishing the latest progress report on the National Hazardous Waste Management Plan 2014-2020, EPA senior manager, Patrick Geoghegan, pointed out that the plan is meant to tackle the issue.

Striving for more self-sufficiency nationally in the management of Ireland’s hazardous waste is a guiding principle behind many of the plan’s recommendations,” he said. “The plan includes an ambition to minimise exports where it is environmentally preferable and feasible from a technical and economic point of view.

It is not the only unfulfilled ambition. The EPA notes there has been little movement on plans to encourage people to take their unused paints, medicines, inks and oils back to a point of purchase in order to remove hazardous waste from household bins.

The progress report says the idea of developing new producer responsibility obligations (PRI) — requiring producers to accept returns of unused or expired goods — is “at risk”.

Human medicines were to have been the first products considered for a PRI scheme along the lines of those in place for electronics waste, used batteries and end of life tyres. While many pharmacists are happy to take back unused or expired medications, a formal scheme would require mandatory involvement, regulation and reporting.

The EPA said the Department of Communications, Climate Action and the Environment is awaiting further research into the idea before progressing it or the PRIs for other products. The EPA said it will carry out its own research to help get the idea off the ground.

The report also shows that action has stalled on plans for a network of collection points for small quantities of hazardous waste, such as asbestos, from DIY and small contracting jobs.

Plans to create a system of regulating the management and disposal of used sheep dip by farmers has not commenced at all, the EPA found.

Progress has been made in other areas. A pilot scheme saw 9,000 farmers bring 1,000 tonnes of hazardous waste to 46 collection points, and coordinated one-day collections for household hazardous waste around the country resulted in substantial amounts of waste, in particular paint, being brought for proper disposal.

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