Jurisdiction: Republic of Ireland
Commencement: 1st September 2024
Amends: Waste Management (Landfill Levy) Regulations 2015
Mini Summary
The Waste Management (Landfill Levy) Regulations 2015 set out that a landfill levy for all wastes of €85 per tonne must be paid by those who perform waste disposal activities for the disposal of waste via landfill; this includes inert waste from the construction sector.
The Waste Management (Landfill Levy) Regulations 2011 are revoked and replaced.
Duties
The landfill levy applies to all types of waste passing to disposal in landfill sites and must be paid:
- in the case of an authorised landfill, by the holder of the applicable waste licence;
- in the case of a waste disposal activity at a facility, by the applicant for the relevant waste licence; or
- in the case of an unauthorised landfill, by the person who carried on the waste disposal activity.
The disposal of certain types of waste to landfill is exempt from the levy, including the following wastes listed.
- Stabilised waste arising from the biological treatment* of municipal waste, to which fraction sewage sludge may have been added.
- Waste arising from local community cleanup activities.
- Dredge spoil from inland waterways and harbours.
*Biological treatment means composting, anaerobic digestion, mechanical-biological treatment or any other biological treatment process for stabilising and sanitising biodegradable waste, including pre-treatment processes.
Written records must be made and kept for each vehicle load of waste accepted into landfill in accordance with regulation 12. The records need to be kept for a minimum of six years.
Compliance checks
An employee of a relevant local authority, or any auditor appointed by the Minister, or a local authority, may:
- enter any landfill;
- require the production of, inspect and take copies of any records and documents maintained by an accountable person under a relevant waste licence; and
- take away, if considered necessary for the purposes of inspection or examination, any records and documents.
Amendment
The exemption for construction and demolition waste from the Landfill Levy is removed.
The levy for the disposal of construction and demolition waste and other similar waste is now the same as the waste recovery levy, under the Circular Economy (Waste Recovery Levy) Regulations 2024.
Non-greenfield soil and stone* disposed in a landfill is exempt from the levy, where the disposal facility is subject to an Integrated Pollution Control (IPC) licence**.
*Non-greenfield soil and stone is soil and stone from land that has been developed or is soil and stone that is contaminated by man-made substances that are not natural to the environment from which the material was extracted.
**An IPC licence is a single-integrated licence that covers all emissions from a facility and its environmental management.
Liability for mixed loads
Where waste accepted for disposal consists of both waste material which is subject to the landfill levy and material which is exempt from the levy, the landfill levy will be payable for the entire amount to be disposed of, unless the separate waste can be clearly identified and quantified.