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GAZETTE
The Act, generally, does not apply to
emissions into the atmosphere,
sewage and sewage effluent, treatment
or discharge of effluents, dumping of
waste at sea or radioactive substances
(section 3). Although in the wider sense
these matters are waste emissions, they
are more appropriately regulated by
existing pollution legislation.
III. New statutory duties in the
management of waste
General duty of a holder of waste
The most onerous of the Act's statutory
duties is the section 32 general duty of a
holder of waste requiring that "[a]
person shall not hold, transport, recover
or dispose of waste in a manner that
causes or is likely to cause
environmental pollution."
The intention behind this duty is to
impose responsibility for the proper
management of waste on the appropriate
person at the appropriate instance,
thereby minimising the opportunity for
environmental pollution. The main plank
of the duty is the prohibition on persons
transferring the "control of waste" to any
person other than an appropriate person
as defined in the Act. Other
environmental safeguards include the
requirement to comply with notification
obligations in the event of a pollution or
pollution-threatening incident, and the
granting of powers to the Minister to
make regulations on requirements to
hold an insurance policy and on the
provision of specified particulars.
Due regard to waste prevention and
minimisation
The second principal statutory duty, in
section 28(2), requires persons in the
industrial, commercial and agricultural
sectors to have "due regard" to
preventing or minimising the production
of waste. This duty comprises taking all
necessary reasonable steps in relation to
activities, including product design, and
complying with any steps specified by
ministerial regulations.
III. Main legal procedures
1. Public authority consents -
controlling waste activities
Waste collection
Under section 33, local authorities must,
as a general rule, make arrangements for
the collection of household waste and
may make arrangements for other
wastes. Authorities may conduct
collections themselves, or contract them
out to others. Where contracted out,
private enterprises are required by
section 34 to secure a waste collection
permit from the local authority.
Conditions may be attached to permits
concerning, for example, wastes to be
collected, methods of collection,
applicable standards, destinations of
waste, and documentation, information
and insurance requirements.
Movements of waste
Under section 36, the Minister may
make regulations on the supervision and
control of movements with the
prevention of environmental pollution
in mind. Among other controls,
these may extend to requiring
authorisation to be sought from the EPA
or a local authority.
Waste recovery and disposal
The most detailed controls are reserved
for activities concerning the ultimate
destinations of waste materials, i.e.
recovery and disposal. The activities
concerned are listed in the Third and
Fourth Schedules and regulated by the
provisions of Part V.
The essential prerequisite for the
conduct of a recovery or disposal
activity is the securing of a section 39
waste licence. These are granted in
accordance with section 40.
To secure a licence, an applicant must
be a "fit and proper person" to the
satisfaction of the EPA. According to
section 40(7), a person is regarded as
"fit and proper" where (i) in possession
of the "requisite technical knowledge or
qualifications", (ii) able to meet any
financial commitments or liabilities and
(iii) not convicted of a prescribed
offence under the Act. The Minister is
empowered to make regulations on
appropriate criteria.
The grant of a waste licence will
inevitably be made subject to
conditions, and the types of conditions
which are likely to be considered are
outlined in section 41. They include the
following obligatory conditions:
technical emissions controls;
monitoring; keeping records on wastes
received and operations performed.
Licences may be reviewed or
transferred. They may also be
surrendered, but only with the express
acceptance of the EPA in the manner
outlined in section 48. The purpose of
this provision is to prevent facilities
from being abandoned with problems
still-outstanding, e.g. non-compliance
with conditions on the aftercare of
landfill sites.
2. Waste management plans - official
strategies
Local authorities are obliged under
section 22 to produce a waste
management plan. These plans must
cover the main strategic matters
necessary for an orderly waste policy,
for instance prevention and
minimisation goals, recovery
programmes and measures for disposing
of waste without causing pollution. In
addition, authorities are required to
provide detailed information on, for
example, waste statistics, facilities
and enforcement.
The mantle of responsibility for
formulating a national hazardous waste
management plan falls on the EPA. The
general requirements for, and specific
contents of, this plan are set out in
considerable detail in section 26.
IV. Enforcement
The Act introduces a diverse range of
enforcement options including the high
criminal penalties first seen in the
EPA
Act, 1992
and interesting civil remedies
in the courts of first instance.
1. Administrative action
Monitoring and inspection
Local authorities and the EPA are
obliged by section 15 to ensure, where
necessary, that the monitoring of
emissions to the environment resulting
from waste management and the
periodic inspection of waste facilities
are carried out. The Minister may
require persons, whose activities are
monitored or inspected, to defray costs
incurred by the authorities. The
authorities must keep adequate records
of these functions. They may also
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