EPA prosecutes Cork County Council – East Cork Landfill (W0022-01)

Hearing Date: September 24, 2020

On 24^th of September 2020, at Midleton District Court, the Environmental Protection Agency prosecuted Cork County Council – East Cork Landfill (W0022-01) for breaching conditions of its Waste Licence.

The Council pleaded guilty to the following charges:

• Failure to maintain all landfill gas flares that form part of the landfill gas management scheme in a safe and fully operational manner from the 7^th of September 2018 to 26^th of September 2018.
• Failure to maintain the Supervisory Control & Data Acquisition system that oversees the entire landfill gas management scheme in a fully operational manner on the 15^th of November 2018.
• Failure to notify the Agency by telephone and by facsimile as soon as practicable after the occurrence of an incident, relating to landfill gas flare outages being part of the environmental control system from the 15^th of November 2018 to the 22^nd of November 2018.
• Failure to notify the Agency by telephone and by facsimile as soon as practicable after the occurrence of an incident, relating to leachate level exceedance landfill cell 3 from the 16^th of November 2018 to the 22^nd of November 2018.
• Failure to ensure that the leachate levels did not exceed a level of one metre over the high-density polyethylene liner of the waste landfill cells on the 13^th of May 2019

On hearing evidence from the Agency and the Council, Judge Sheridan convicted the council on all offences. He imposed a fine of €1,000 on each of the charges and awarded costs to the Agency.