The Environmental Protection Agency is obliged to process applications from local authorities in relation to ‘closed landfills’ in accordance with the Waste Management (Certification of Historic Unlicensed Waste Disposal and Recovery Activity) Regulations, 2008.
A ‘closed landfill’, also commonly referred to as a historic landfill, is defined in the said Regulations as a landfill site operated by a local authority for the recovery or disposal of waste without a waste licence on any date between 15th July 1977 and 27th March 1997.
The purpose of certificates of authorisation is to specify control and remediation measures required at a closed landfill to ensure that waste disposed or recovered in the closed landfill is not causing, or is not likely to cause, environmental pollution. A certificate of authorisation shall comply with the above Regulations.
Before making an application for a certificate of authorisation, a local authority shall identify and register the closed landfill in accordance with the Regulations (Regulation 5).
The local authority shall then carry out a risk assessment in respect of the closed landfill in accordance with the EPA Code of Practice - Environmental Risk Assessment for Unregulated Waste Disposal Sites and the Regulations (Regulation 6). Once the risk assessment has been completed, the local authority shall apply to the EPA for a certificate of authorisation (Regulation 7).
Applications for a certificate of authorisation for closed landfills may only be made by local authorities.
The application documents should include:
All application documentation (excluding confidential information) should be emailed to historiclandfillapplications@epa.ie using the file transfer application Microsoft OneDrive quoting the relevant EPA Application Register Number (H0XXX-0X). EPA doesn’t accept files to be transferred using any file share application other than MS One Drive. Each file should be in a searchable .pdf format and a size not exceeding 10MB.
Upon receipt of the application for a certificate of authorisation and following verification of payment of the application fee, the EPA will acknowledge the application and will make the application documents available to view on the EPA website.
As part of an application, a local authority shall provide two documents that relate to the Qualified Person required under Section 2.3 of the Code of Practice to be involved in the risk assessment process.
Details of the 'Qualified Persons' documents are available below:
The Qualified Person should provide signed copies of the two documents to the local authority for inclusion with the application form.
An application for a certificate of authorisation will be available to view on the EPA website here.
Third-party submissions may be made at any time before the EPA issues a draft certificate of authorisation under Regulation 7(5).
Where the EPA has determined that an Appropriate Assessment is required, submissions or observations on Appropriate Assessment concerning a certificate of authorisation application can be made in writing to the Agency. Such submissions or observations may be made for at least 30 days after publication on the Agency’s website of the Notice for Public Consultation on Appropriate Assessment or for whatever longer timeframe is set out in the notice.
A draft certificate of authorisation will be made available to the applicant local authority under Regulation 7(5) and will also be placed on the EPA website.
Representations on the draft certificate of authorisation may be made within the 30-day period provided for in Regulation 7(5). Late representations will not be accepted.
If you require additional information in relation to Closed Landfill Certificate of Authorisation please contact:
Circular Economy Programme
Environmental Protection Agency
PO Box 3000
Johnstown Castle Estate
County Wexford
Telephone: 053 91 60600 or Lo-call 0818 33 55 99
E-mail: historiclandfillapplications@epa.ie
