Newly enhanced unit to tackle illegal waste
All available technology will be used to deal with illegal waste activities to ensure compliance with waste legislation.
The Local Government Sector has a newly enhanced specialist unit in place to deal with illegal waste activities across the state. The Waste Enforcement Regional Lead Authorities (WERLAs) based strategically throughout Ireland has been given additional funding by the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) and will now be taking a front seat in enforcement matters dealing with household waste kerbside collectors, illegal waste activities and sites of concern.
The WERLAs have being involved in a number of high-profile cases in recent years working collaboratively with Local Authorities, An Garda Siochana and Revenue to deal with serious waste crime. Targeting serious environmental crime through the multi-agency approach has had significant outcomes resulting in the shutdown of several illegal waste operators and prosecutions in order to protect our environment.
The WERLAs, working in partnership with Local Authorities and other stakeholders, will be using all available technology to deal with illegal waste activities to ensure compliance with waste legislation. The recent approval of the Codes of Practices for CCTV and Mobile Recording Devices (MRDs) will further strengthen the enforcement tools available to Local Authorities in the investigation, detection, and prosecution of offence under the Waste and Litter Acts.
The WERLAs were initially established in 2015 and have responsibility for coordinating the waste enforcement actions of local authorities, setting priorities and common objectives for waste enforcement and ensuring consistency of enforcement of waste legislation. Following the success of the office an enhancement was undertaken in 2023 with the WERLAs now taking responsibility for the regulation and enforcement of household waste kerbside collectors, dealing with illegal waste activities and sites of concern. Funding of over €3million has being provided by DECC with extra technical and administrative staff employed to deal with the enforcement task.