Statement on establishment of Waste Enforcement Regional Lead Authorities (WERLAs)
The Department of Environment Community and Local Government (DECLG) ha issued a statement clarifying the role of three new Waste Enforcement Regional Lead Authorities (WERLAs), which have been established to drive improved performance and greater consistency in waste enforcement.
TyreTrade.ie received the following statement this morning:
National Waste Management Policy contains a commitment to complete a review of the respective regulatory and enforcement roles of the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and local authorities and a review group established for that purpose in 2013 identified the existing strengths and weaknesses in this area and made recommendations for the future.
The group recommended the establishment of three new regional lead authorities to drive improved performance and greater consistency in waste enforcement. The Department of the Environment, Community & Local Government and the City and County Managers Association accepted the recommendations and following an open and highly competitive bidding process, Cork County Council, Dublin City Council and Leitrim & Donegal County Councils (in a combined bid) were selected in October as the new Waste Enforcement Regional Lead Authorities for the Southern, Eastern/Midlands, and Connacht/Ulster Regions respectively. The WERLAs are powering up at present with a view to full launch by end 2015.
Each of these new Waste Enforcement Regional Lead Authorities (WERLAs) will have responsibility for coordinating waste enforcement actions within regions, setting priorities and common objectives for waste enforcement, ensuring consistent enforcement of waste legislation across the three existing waste management planning regions while still leaving local authority personnel as first responders on the ground to specific breaches of waste legislation.
The work of the WERLAs will be overseen by a National Steering Committee which will be chaired by the Department of the Environment, Community & Local Government. The Steering Committee will determine national waste enforcement priorities for the WERLAs and drive consistency at a central level.
It is intended that waste tyres will be one of the top 3 or 4 (max) waste enforcement priorities on a national basis for the coming years.
The Committee will involve other regulatory bodies with a link to waste crime, including the Office of the Revenue Commissioners and An Garda Síochána. National waste policy recognises that there is a need for a more coordinated strategic response to this growing threat and the establishment of the WERLAs working with a National Waste Enforcement Steering Committee will enhance the capacity of local authorities to organize strategic operations involving targets associated with waste crime and will facilitate more coordinated interagency operations taking place on a regional basis. The National Committee has been established and held its inaugural meeting on 24 November last.
The Committee has agreed the following waste enforcement priorities for all local authorities for 2016:
• Roll-out of pay by weight for household waste collection;
• Roll-out of brown bin;
• Tyres;
• Illegal dumping;
• Diesel laundering.
While it is envisaged that the majority of the enforcement effort, which will include fixed penalty notices, will be carried out at local authority level, supported by the new Regional, National and Industry Contact Groups, the EPA will also have an important role to play. Under the existing WEEE regime the EPA is responsible for the enforcement of the registration and reporting of producers. It is intended to replicate this function with respect to waste tyres. The Agency would also then contribute to intelligence-led enforcement operations whereby the EPA would by receiving information on non-compliant producers from local authorities, Repak ELT and the WEEE Register Society.