Waste Management Act 1996

General duty of a holder of waste.

32

32.—F120[(1) A person shall not—

(a) cause or facilitate the abandonment, dumping or unauthorised management or treatment of waste, or

(b) hold, transport, recover or dispose of waste, or treat waste, in a manner that causes or is likely to cause environmental pollution.

(1A)(a) It shall be the responsibility of the original waste producer or other waste holder to carry out the treatment of waste himself or herself or have the treatment handled by a dealer or an establishment or undertaking which carries out waste treatment operations or arranged by a private or public waste collector in accordance with section 21A and subsection (1).

(b) The Agency, the local authorities and Dublin City Council shall take the necessary measures to ensure that, within their territory or area of responsibility, the establishments or undertakings which collect or transport waste on a professional basis deliver the waste collected and transported to appropriate treatment installations in accordance with subsection (1).]

(2) A person shall not, save in such circumstances as may be specified under subsection (4), transfer the control of waste to any person other than an appropriate person.

F121[(2A)(a) When the waste is transferred from the original waste producer or waste holder to an appropriate person for preliminary treatment, the responsibility for carrying out a complete recovery or disposal operation shall not be discharged as a general rule.

(b) Without prejudice to the TFS Regulation, the Agency and Dublin City Council, as the case may be, may specify the conditions of responsibility and decide in which cases the original producer is to retain responsibility for the whole treatment chain or in which cases the responsibility of the producer and the holder can be shared or delegated among the actors of the treatment chain.

(2B) The Minister or any Minister of the Government concerned may, in carrying out their functions under this Act, decide, by measures taken to give effect to Article 8 of the Waste Directive, that the responsibility for arranging waste management is to be borne partly or wholly by the producer of the product from which the waste came and that distributors of such product may share this responsibility.]

(3) A holder of waste shall, without delay, inform—

(a) the local authority in whose functional area the loss, spillage, or other matter mentioned in this subsection occurs, or

(b) in the case of hazardous waste, both the said local authority and the Agency,

of any loss, spillage, accident or other development concerning that waste which causes, or is likely to cause, environmental pollution.

(4) The Minister may by regulations—

(a) provide that the holder of a specified class or classes of waste shall effect and maintain a policy of insurance insuring him or her to a specified extent as respects any liability on his or her part to pay damages or costs on account of injury to person or property arising from the holding by him or her of the waste,

(b) provide that on the transfer of waste, in specified circumstances, the holder of the waste shall provide to the transferee specified particulars in writing of the waste so as to enable that person to avoid a contravention of the relevant provisions of this Act,

(c) provide that subsection (2) shall not apply in specified circumstances.

(5) In this section “an appropriate person” means a local authority, the corporation of a borough that is not a county borough, the council of an urban district, or a person otherwise authorised under and in accordance with this Act or the Act of 1992 F122[(including a dealer)] to undertake the collection, recovery or disposal of the class of waste in question.

(6) (a) A person who contravenes subsection F123[(1), (1A)(a), (2)] or (3) or a provision of regulations under subsection (4) shall be guilty of an offence.

(b) In a prosecution for a contravention of subsection (1), it shall be a good defence to prove that the activity concerned was carried on in accordance with a waste collection permit or waste licence under this Act F124[, a permit, authorisation or certificate referred to in section 39(5)(c) (inserted by Statutory Instrument No. 166 of 1998)] or a licence or revised licence F125[for an integrated pollution control activity] under Part IV of the Act of 1992.

F124[(c) In a prosecution for a contravention of subsection (1), where it is proved that—

(i) a waste collection permit or waste licence under this Act, a permit, authorisation or certificate referred to in section 39(5)(c) or a licence or revised licence under Part IV of the Act of 1992 was required for the carrying on of the activity concerned, and

(ii) such a permit, licence, authorisation or certificate was not in force in respect of the carrying on of that activity or was not being complied with in any respect,

then it shall be presumed, until the contrary is shown, that the carrying on of that activity was likely to cause environmental pollution.]

(7) F126[…]

Annotations

Amendments:

F120

Substituted and inserted (31.03.2011) by European Communities (Waste Directive) Regulations 2011 (S.I. No. 126 of 2011), reg. 16(a).

F121

Inserted (31.03.2011) by European Communities (Waste Directive) Regulations 2011 (S.I. No. 126 of 2011), reg. 16(b).

F122

Inserted (31.03.2011) by European Communities (Waste Directive) Regulations 2011 (S.I. No. 126 of 2011), reg. 16(c).

F123

Substituted (31.03.2011) by European Communities (Waste Directive) Regulations 2011 (S.I. No. 126 of 2011), reg. 16(d).

F124

Inserted (22.10.2003) by Protection of the Environment Act 2003 (27/2003), s. 29, S.I. No. 498 of 2003.

F125

Inserted (23.04.2013) by European Union (Industrial Emissions) Regulations 2013 (S.I. No. 138 of 2013), reg. 26.

F126

Deleted (31.03.2011) by European Communities (Waste Directive) Regulations 2011 (S.I. No. 126 of 2011), reg. 16(e).

Editorial Notes:

E334

Power pursuant to section exercised (2.04.2018) by Waste Management (Tyres and Waste Tyres) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 (S.I. No. 96 of 2018), in effect as per reg. 2.

E335

Power pursuant to section exercised (19.12.2017) by Waste Management (Tyres and Waste Tyres) (Amendment) Regulations 2017 (S.I. No. 598 of 2017).

E336

Power pursuant to section exercised (14.09.2017 and 1.10.2017) by Waste Management (Tyres and Waste Tyres) Regulations 2017 (S.I. No. 400 of 2017), part in effect on date of making, and part as per reg. 1(2).

E337

Power pursuant to section exercised (16.01.2016) by Waste Management (Collection Permit) (Amendment) Regulations 2016 (S.I. No. 24 of 2016).

E338

Power pursuant to section exercised (15.05.2015) by Waste Management (Facility Permit and Registration) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 (S.I. No. 198 of 2015).

E339

Power pursuant to section exercised (15.05.2015) by Waste Management (Collection Permit) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 (S.I. No. 197 of 2015).

E340

Power pursuant to section exercised (7.07.2014) by Waste Management (Facility Permit and Registration) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 (S.I. No. 320 of 2014).

E341

Power pursuant to section exercised (31.03.2008) by Waste Management (Facility Permit and Registration) (Amendment) Regulations 2008 (S.I. No. 86 of 2008).

E342

Power pursuant to section exercised (31.03.2008) by Waste Management (Facility Permit and Registration) Regulations 2007 (S.I. No. 821 of 2007), in effect as per reg. 2.

E343

Power pursuant to section exercised (20.05.1998) by Waste Management (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 1998 (S.I. No. 164 of 1998), in effect as per reg. 1(2).

E344

Power pursuant to section exercised (20.05.1998) by Waste Management (Hazardous Waste) Regulations 1998 (S.I. No. 163 of 1998), in effect as per reg. 2.

E345

Contraventions under subss. (1) and (3) prescribed for purposes of Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 (7/1992), s. 84(4)(a) (24.07.2013) by Environmental Protection Agency (Integrated Pollution Control) (Licensing) Regulations 2013 (S.I. No. 283 of 2013), reg. 41(c).

E346

Responsibility for enforcement of obligations imposed by section assigned to local authorities or the Agency, as the case may be, (31.03.2008) by Waste Management (Facility Permit and Registration) Regulations 2007 (S.I. No. 821 of 2007), reg. 40(1)(b), in effect as per reg. 2.

E347

Offence under subs. (6) prescribed as offence for purposes of Waste Management (Facility Permit and Registration) Regulations 2007 (S.I. No. 821 of 2007), regs. 36 and 38, (31.03.2008) by Waste Management (Facility Permit and Registration) Regulations 2007 (S.I. No. 821 of 2007), reg. 22(g), in effect as per reg. 2.

E348

Offence under subs. (6) prescribed as offence for purposes of s. 34(5)(a) (31.03.2008) by Waste Management (Collection Permit) Regulations 2007 (S.I. No. 820 of 2007), reg. 21(g), in effect as per reg. 1(2).

E349

Previous affecting provision: power pursuant to section exercised (1.04.2010, 10.04.2010, and 1.12.2010) by Waste Management (End-of-Life Vehicles) (Amendment) Regulations 2010 (S.I. No. 142 of 2010), in effect as per reg. 3; as the only effect of this instrument was to amend S.I. No. 282 of 2006, it was rendered obsolete by its revocation, see below.

E350

Previous affecting provision: pursuant to section exercised (16.07.2008) by Waste Management (Batteries and Accumulators) Regulations 2008 (S.I. No. 268 of 2008); revoked by European Union (Batteries and Accumulators) Regulations 2014 (S.I. No. 283 of 2008), reg. 49(1), subject to transitional provision in para. (2) and construed as per para. (3), as amended (30.07.2017) by European Union (Batteries and Accumulators) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 (S.I. No. 349 of 2014), reg. 2.

E351

Previous affecting provision: pursuant to section exercised (15.12.2007 and 31.03.2008) by Waste Management (Packaging) Regulations 2007 (S.I. No. 798 of 2007), in effect as per reg. 3; revoked (21.06.2014) by European Union (Packaging) Regulations 2014 (S.I. No. 282 of 2014), reg. 36(1), in effect as per reg. 3; subject to transitional provision and construed as per reg. 36(2) and (3).

E352

Previous affecting provision: power pursuant to section exercised (1.01.2008) by Waste Management (Tyres and Waste Tyres) Regulations 2007 (S.I. No. 664 of 2007), in effect as per reg. 1(2); revoked (1.10.2017) by Waste Management (Tyres and Waste Tyres) Regulations 2017 (S.I. No. 400 of 2017), in effect as per reg. 1(2).

E353

Previous affecting provision: pursuant to section exercised (8.06.2006) by Waste Management (End-Of-Life Vehicles) Regulations 2006 (S.I. No. 282 of 2006), in effect as per reg. 3; revoked (21.06.2014) by European Union (End-of-Life Vehicles) Regulations 2014 (S.I. No. 281 of 2014), reg. 37(1), in effect as per reg. 3; subject to transitional provision and construed as per reg. 37(2) and (3).

E354

Previous affecting provision: contraventions under subss. (1) and (3) prescribed (12.07.2004) for purposes of Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 (7/1992), s. 84(4)(a) by Environmental Protection Agency (Licensing) (Amendment) Regulations 2004 (S.I. No. 394 of 2004), reg. 6(c), in effect as per reg. 2; revoked (24.07.2013) by Environmental Protection Agency (Integrated Pollution Control) (Licensing) Regulations 2013 (S.I. No. 283 of 2013), reg. 42(1) and sch. 2, subject to transitional provision in para. (2).

E355

Previous affecting provision: application of subs. (2) restricted (20.05.1998) by Waste Management (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 1998 (S.I. No. 164 of 1998), reg. 5, in effect as per reg. 1(2); deleted (8.12.2008) by Waste Management (Certification of Historic Unlicenced Waste Disposal and Recovery Activity) Regulations 2008 (S.I. No. 524 of 2008), reg. 12.