Legislation to tackle waste and dumping has been signed by the President.
The Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022, will support Ireland’s shift from a “take-make-waste” linear model to a more sustainable pattern of production and consumption.
The legislation will support actions to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing waste.
The Act received broad cross-party support to introduce levies on all single-use packaging over time. This will involve a levy on single use tea/coffee cups later this year.
It also introduces compulsory segregation and incentivised charging schemes for commercial waste.
Councils have welcomed the change as it means that CCTV can legally be used for waste enforcement purposes.
This will support efforts to tackle illegal dumping and littering, while protecting the privacy rights of citizens.
The legislation will also aim to reduce food loss through prevention of waste.
And it also introduces prohibitions on exploration for and extraction of coal, lignite and oil shale.
The Local Government Management Agency will now begin preparing the Statutory Codes of Practice in relation to the use of CCTV and other Recording Devices that Local Authorities will have to abide by as when using these technologies tackle illegal dumping.
