Final Regulations signed on burning of agricultural green waste

Regulations were signed today to provide for an extension to the exemption which allows for the onsite burning of agricultural green waste in certain limited circumstances. The Waste Management (Prohibition of Waste Disposal by Burning) Regulations were drafted by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications following consultation with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

The Regulations extend the exemption for the burning of agricultural green waste, which expired on 1 January 2023, until 1 March 2023. The exemption is then reopened for a final three-month period from 1 September 2023 to 30 November 2023 to allow the agricultural sector deal with waste accumulated in the interim.

Under the Waste Management (Prohibition of Waste Disposal by Burning) Regulations 2009, the burning of household, garden, commercial or industrial waste is not permitted. An exemption under the legislation, which has allowed farmers to dispose of waste generated by agricultural practices by burning as a last resort following strict application of the waste hierarchy, has been extended on several occasions. However, it was never intended that this exemption would extend in perpetuity and this will be the final time such an extension will be granted.

The decision to extend this exemption for one final time arose from the recommendations made in a recent study, commissioned by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, to examine alternative measures to the burning of agricultural green waste within the Irish context and assess the practicality of such alternatives. This study, which was prepared by the Irish Bioenergy Association (IrBEA), notes that there are a number of feasible alternatives available to sustainably manage this waste material.

The IrBEA report, which has been published by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, notes that: "The primary concern from the burning of biomass in open field burn piles, compared to within combustion appliances for heat, is in the pollutants that are given off through combustion, which can then have negative impacts on health, air quality as well as the environment, including the production of greenhouse gases (GHGs)."

Officials from both departments will now work to examine a range of measures to ensure that the appropriate communication, awareness-raising and knowledge transfer measures are in place – to support the agricultural sector in making a successful orderly transition to alternative sustainable management practices.

ENDS

IrBEA Report

The IrBEA report is available on the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine's website.

Waste Management (Prohibition of Waste Disposal by Burning) Regulations 2009

The Waste Management (Prohibition of Waste Disposal by Burning) Regulations 2009 make it an offence to dispose of waste by uncontrolled burning.

Article 5 of the Regulations provides an exemption for the permissible disposal of waste by burning under certain conditions, including where the material to be burned consists of uncontaminated wood, trees, tree trimmings, leaves, brush, or other similar waste generated by agricultural practices only, provided that such burning is done as a final measure following the application of the waste hierarchy.

It should be emphasised that this exemption applies to cut green agricultural waste only. It does not apply to any other waste arising on farms, for example plastics or tyres.

Article 6 of the 2009 Regulations provided a five-year sunset clause for this exemption, following which it would be necessary to make an application to a local authority for a Certificate of Registration under the Waste Management Facility Permit Regulations, in relation to the activity in question after that date. This sunset provision has been extended through amending Regulations on six previous occasions since the original expiry date.