34.—(1) F128[(a) Subject to paragraph (b), a person other than a local authority shall not, for the purposes of reward, with a view to profit or otherwise in the course of business, F129[collect or transport waste], on or after such date as may be prescribed, save under and in accordance with a permit (in this Act referred to as a “waste collection permit”) granted by—

(i) the local authority in whose functional area the waste is collected,

(ii) such other local authority as stands nominated for the purpose in accordance with paragraph (aa), or

(iii) such other body or bodies as may be prescribed.

(aa) Where two or more local authorities—

(i) have jointly made, or propose jointly to make, a waste management plan under section 22(3), or

(ii) are otherwise cooperating with one another to achieve common objectives with respect to waste management in their functional areas,

the local authorities may or shall, if the Minister requires them to do so, decide that, for the purposes of the said plan or the achievement of the said objectives, one of them shall perform each of F129[the functions under this section or section 34A in relation to waste collection permits or review of waste collection permits] with respect to each of their functional areas and, accordingly, nominate that local authority for that purpose.]

(b) The Minister may make regulations providing that paragraph (a) shall not apply in respect of the F129[collection or transport of waste] where such F129[collection or transport] is carried out in compliance with such requirements (which may include a requirement as to the entry of specified particulars concerning the person carrying out the F129[collection or transport] in the register maintained by the local authority concerned under section 19) as are specified in the regulations.

(c) A person who contravenes paragraph (a) or any requirement of regulations under paragraph (b) shall be guilty of an offence.

F130[(1A) In this section—

“waste” means different waste, including household waste, or a class or classes of waste as may be prescribed;

“household waste” means different household waste or a class or classes of household waste as may be prescribed.]

(2) (a) The Agency may give such guidance or directions to a local authority or local authorities generally as it considers appropriate in relation to the control to be exercised or the measures to be taken by it or them of, or with regard to, the F131[collection or transport of hazardous waste] by persons in its or their functional area or areas or the grant by it or them of waste collection permits in respect of such waste.

(b) A local authority shall have regard to any guidance and comply with any direction given to it under paragraph (a) in performing any of its functions under this section or section 33, as appropriate.

(3) On an application being made to a local authority for the grant of a permit under this section, the authority may decide to grant the permit, subject to, or without, conditions or F132[to refuse to grant the permit for stated reasons which may include the abandonment of the application by the applicant].

F133[(4) A local authority shall not grant a waste collection permit unless it is satisfied that—

(a) the applicant is a fit and proper person within the meaning of section 34D to hold a waste collection permit, and

(b) the activity concerned would not, if carried on in accordance with such conditions as may be attached to the permit, cause environmental pollution, and that the grant of the permit is consistent with the objectives of the relevant waste management plan or the hazardous waste management plan, as the case may be, and the implementation of that plan.]

(5) (a) Without prejudice to subsections F134[(3) and (4)], an application for a waste collection permit may be refused, or a waste collection permit may be revoked F135[under section 34A], if the applicant, permit holder or any other relevant person has been convicted of an offence under this Act prescribed for the purposes of this subsection, or of an offence under any other enactment, or instrument under an enactment, as may be so prescribed.

(b) The reference in paragraph (a) to a relevant person is a reference to a person whom the local authority determines to be relevant for the purposes of considering the application concerned or, as the case may be, of deciding whether to revoke the waste collection permit, having had regard to any criteria that the Minister by regulations provides it is to have regard to in determining such a matter.

(6) F136[…]

F137[(7) (a) Conditions attached to a waste collection permit shall specify the requirements to be complied with by the holder of the permit (“permit holder”) in respect of the activities to which the permit relates (“activities concerned”).

(b) Conditions may, or, if the Minister so prescribes under paragraph (e) or subsection (11)(b)(v), shall be attached under paragraph (a) to a waste collection permit specifying requirements in relation to the following:

(i) weighing of F138[household waste or commercial waste] collected or transported;

(ii) reporting of the weight of F138[household waste or commercial waste] collected or transported to the person who presents the F138[household waste or commercial waste] for collection being either the original waste producer or, as the case may be, the person who arranges, on behalf of more than one original waste producer occupying apartments, duplexes, maisonettes or any combination of such dwellings for collection of their waste (“person who presents F138[household waste or commercial waste] for collection”);

(iii) subject to paragraph (f)(i) and (ii), charging of fees for F138[household waste or commercial waste] collection or transport services;

(iv) in relation to collection of F138[household waste or commercial waste], preparing and publishing a customer charter and its form and content;

(v) providing information to the person who presents F138[household waste or commercial waste]for collection that identifies the vehicle used for that collection;

(vi) requiring that waste is segregated before it can be collected or transported;

(vii) providing separate receptacles for different F138[household waste or commercial waste];

(viii) collection or transport of different F138[household waste or commercial waste] at specified frequencies;

(ix) with regard to persons from whom F138[household waste or commercial waste] is collected by an authorised waste collector, providing the following information to the local authority, when requested to do so under section 18, regarding collections of F138[household waste or commercial waste] from those persons—

(I) details of the collection of separate classes of F138[household waste or commercial waste],

(II) details of persons who choose not to partake in the collection of separate classes of F138[household waste or commercial waste],

(III) details of when F138[household waste or commercial waste] was last collected, and

(IV) written confirmation of the structure of the fees being charged to the person from whom the waste is collected, including, where appropriate, billing information which indicates the pay by weight charge element of the fees charged for the collection of F138[household waste or commercial waste].

(c) Conditions may, or if the Minister so prescribes under paragraph (e) or subsection (11)(b)(v), shall also be attached under paragraph (a) to a waste collection permit specifying requirements in relation to the following:

(i) waste which may F139[or shall] be collected;

(ii) separate collection of waste;

(iii) prohibition of certain practices by a permit holder in order that waste which has been segregated prior to collection or transport does not become unsuitable for recycling or recovery;

(iv) the place to which waste F138[is required to be delivered, or to which it is prohibited from being delivered,] for preparation for reuse, recovery or disposal;

(v) methods, receptacles (including skips and skip bags) and vehicles to be employed by a permit holder in the collection or transport of waste, including requirements regarding dimensions of receptacles, care and disposal of the contents of the receptacles, the periods during which receptacles may be left in a public place, the locations from which different receptacles may be collected, the supervision by the permit holder of their use and the restriction to such persons as may be prescribed of the placing in or removal from any place of receptacles;

(vi) the display of identifying marks or colours on a receptacle or vehicle referred to in subparagraph (v);

(vii) complying with technical, environmental, inspection or safety measures or standards (including standards regarding the presentation, segregation, weighing, packaging or labelling of waste);

(viii) keeping and preserving of records and supplying information to the local authority, or any other person as may be prescribed, in relation to the activities F138[concerned, and the form in which such records are to be kept and preserved and in which the information is to be supplied];

(ix) effecting and maintaining a policy of insurance insuring the permit holder as respects any liability on his or her part to pay damages or costs on account of injury to a person or property arising from the activities concerned;

(x) matters consequent on measures that may be taken under section 35;

(xi) matters consequent on measures that may be taken under Part II;

(xii) matters consequent on giving effect to Community Acts;

(xiii) information to be furnished to customers (including providing information to customers on the presentation, segregation, packaging or labelling of waste or the charges payable for its collection or transport);

(xiv) matters consequent on the implementation and demonstration of the implementation of the waste hierarchy referred to in section 21A;

(xv) undergoing specified training in relation to the activities concerned;

(xvi) inspecting and acceptance of waste by a permit holder;

(xvii) effecting and maintaining an environmental management system, within the meaning of section 27, in respect of the activities concerned;

(xviii) the hours between which waste concerned may be collected in specified areas;

(xix) effecting and maintaining a customer complaint management system;

(xx) preventing the occurrence of littering from vehicles in the course of the activities concerned;

(xxi) having information, in such form as may be specified in a waste collection permit, to accompany and be carried in the vehicle transporting the waste;

(xxii) as respects contamination that may be caused by the F138[incorrect separation of waste in receptacles for segregated waste]—

(I) monitoring by a permit holder of levels of contamination,

(II) recording and maintaining specified data on levels of contamination,

(III) training to be provided for staff of a permit holder in relation to monitoring contamination, or

(IV) protocols and procedures where contamination is detected by the collector, including for informing the person who presents household waste for collection or non-collection of F138[the receptacle;]

F139[(xxiii) the achievement of such targets as may be specified in the permit in relation to recycling rates;

(xxiv) effecting and maintaining a record, document and data management system of such standard, or in accordance with such criteria, as the Minister may prescribe and which may include an electronic record, document and data management system;

(xxv) the requirement to collect waste where a waste service is not provided;

(xxvi) the requirement to effect and maintain a customer communication and awareness programme.]

(d) Conditions shall be attached under paragraph (a) to a waste collection permit specifying requirements in relation to the following:

(i) collection only of a European Waste Catalogue waste type specified on the waste collection permit;

(ii) deposit of waste only at a facility specified on the waste collection permit;

(iii) use only of a vehicle specified on the waste collection permit for the collection of waste;

(iv) carrying of a copy, in a form specified in the permit, of the waste collection permit on each vehicle;

(v) display of the permit holder name or number on promotional material, vehicles, skips, receptacles or bags of the permit holder;

(vi) submission of specified information on a periodic basis to the local authority in such form and at such frequency as may be specified on the waste collection permit;

(vii) where a weighing system is used to determine weight-based collection charges, submission of confirmation of an annual inspection of the weighing system used by the permit holder in accordance with the Legal Metrology (General) Regulations 2008 (S.I. No. 323 of 2008), in such form that may be specified on the waste collection permit.

(e) The Minister, where he or she considers that it is necessary for waste management in accordance with the principle that the costs of that management shall be borne by the original waste producer or by the current or previous waste holders, shall make regulations prescribing a requirement for attachment of a condition to a waste collection permit that a permit holder shall charge fees for the collection or transport of F138[household waste or commercial waste].

(f) Regulations under paragraph (e) shall provide for the means by which fees for collection or F138[transport of household waste or commercial waste, as the case may be,] shall be calculated by a permit holder and shall require a permit holder to—

(i) charge a fee for each kilogramme of F138[household waste or commercial waste, as the case may be, collected or transported, or both,] which fee shall only be calculated by reference to weight of F138[household waste or commercial waste, as the case may be, collected and transported], and for the avoidance of doubt, methods of calculation of a fee based on pay by lift or throw, tags or a flat-rate shall not be considered to be calculated by reference to weight of waste collected,

(ii) charge a service fee, as considered appropriate by the permit holder (including a nil fee), in addition to the fee referred to in subparagraph (i),

(iii) demonstrate by prescribed means if the fees charged for collection or transport of F138[household waste or commercial waste, as the case may be, incentivise waste prevention and segregation], and

(iv) furnish to an authorised person, information in a prescribed form, regarding the billing system used by the permit holder in respect of fees referred to under subparagraph (i) or (ii).

(g) (i) For the purposes of paragraph (f)(i), the Minister shall prescribe the minimum amount of the fee required to be charged for each kilogramme of F138[household waste or commercial waste, as the case may be,] collected or transported and that minimum fee shall be based on the approximate cost per kilogramme of managing segregated F138[household waste or commercial waste, as the case may be,] including its collection from the person who presented that waste for collection, its delivery to an authorised facility by a permit holder and its final treatment, which in any event shall not exceed an amount of 30 cent per kilogramme of F138[household waste or commercial waste, as the case may be].

(ii) The Minister shall review the costs of managing F138[household waste and commercial waste,] on which the minimum charges prescribed under subparagraph (i) are based, at least every 12 months and may amend the amount of the fee prescribed under subparagraph (i).

(iii) The Minister following a review under subparagraph (ii), once and only once in each financial year beginning in the financial year that he or she first prescribes under subparagraph (i), may substitute for the amount of the fee prescribed under subparagraph (i), an amount which does not exceed the amount so prescribed by 5 cent.]

(8) (a) A local authority, before making a decision in relation to an application made to it for the grant of a waste collection permit, shall consider any submissions made to it under and in accordance with regulations under subsection (11) in relation to the application.

(b) A local authority shall, if it decides—

(i) to grant F140[…] a waste collection permit, or

(ii) to refuse to grant F140[…] such a permit,

forthwith notify the applicant therefor F140[…] of the decision and the reasons for the decision.

(9) (a) An applicant for F141[…] a waste collection permit may, within F142[28 days] of the date of a notice under subsection (8), appeal against the decision of the local authority concerned to the judge of the District Court for the District Court district in which the principal office of the local authority is situate.

(b) On the hearing of an appeal under this subsection, the judge of the District Court may make an order giving such directions to the local authority concerned as he or she thinks proper in relation to the grant F141[…] of a waste collection permit F141[…].

(10) A contravention of any provision of section 32 or 39, or of any condition of a waste collection permit, by any person employed by or on behalf of, or otherwise carrying out any waste collection activity for, or on behalf of, the holder of the permit, shall be deemed to also be a contravention of the provision or condition, as the case may be, by that holder.

F143[(10A) A person who, under this section furnishes information to a local authority which is to his or her knowledge false or in a material respect misleading, shall be guilty of an offence.]

(11) (a) The Minister may make regulations for the purpose of this section.

(b) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (a), regulations under this subsection may make provision in relation to all or any of the following matters—

(i) the form in which an application for the grant of a waste collection permit (“a permit”) shall be made and the form of a permit;

F144[(ia) prescribing a class or classes of waste or household waste for purposes of a waste collection permit or conditions that may or shall be attached to that permit, including by reference to the nature or quantity of the waste, its presentation for collection or whether it is to be segregated;]

(ii) information and particulars to be submitted by an applicant for the grant of a permit, and verification of such information and particulars;

(iii) specifying the period within which an application for the grant of a permit shall be dealt with by a local authority;

(iv) matters in respect of which a local authority must be satisfied prior to the granting of a permit;

F145[(v) requiring a local authority to attach specified conditions to a permit, including a condition referred to in subsection (7)(b) or (c);]

(vi) specifying conditions that a local authority may attach to a permit;

F146[(via) for the purposes of subsection (7), prescribing any matter referred to in that subsection as prescribed or to be prescribed;]

(vii) F147[…]

(viii) the making available for inspection by members of the public of an application for the grant of a permit, and the making of submissions by members of the public to a local authority, within a specified period, in relation to such an application;

(ix) the publication by a local authority of decisions made by it in relation to permits;

(x) requiring an applicant for the grant of a permit to defray, or contribute towards, any costs incurred by the local authority concerned in carrying out an investigation in relation to the F148[application;]

F149[(xi) such incidental, supplementary and consequential matters as appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of this section and the regulations.]

(12) The collection of waste shall, in the period before a waste collection permit in relation to such collection is granted or refused, be deemed not to have contravened the provisions of this section if, before the date prescribed under subsection (1) (a), an application has been made for a waste collection permit in respect of such collection and the requirements of regulations under subsection (11) in relation to the application have been complied with by the applicant therefor.

F150[(13) (a) The reference in subsection (1)(a) to a local authority, where it first occurs, shall be construed as including a reference to the corporation of a borough of any kind and the council of an urban district.

(b) Each other reference in this section (other than subsections (1)(aa) and (4)) to a local authority shall be construed as including a reference to a body standing prescribed for the purposes of subsection (1)(a)(iii).

F151[(c) If a body stands prescribed for the purposes aforesaid, then this section shall have effect, in so far as it relates to such a body, as if the following subsection was substituted for subsection (4):

“(4) A body standing prescribed for the purposes of subsection (1)(a)(iii) shall not grant a waste collection permit unless it is satisfied that the activity in question would not, if carried on in accordance with such conditions as may be attached to the permit, cause environmental pollution, and that the grant of the permit is consistent with the objectives of the relevant waste management plan or the hazardous waste management plan as the case may be.”.]]