Cork County Council leading drive to  enforce food waste bin regulations

A group of local authorities, with Cork County Council at the helm, is considering legal action against waste collectors that have failed to provide customers with a separate bin for food waste.

Cork County Council is the lead local authority for the Southern Region Waste Enforcement Regional Lead Authorities (WERLA).

Three WERLAs were established in 2015 to co-ordinate the waste enforcement actions of local authorities, set priorities and common objectives for waste enforcement, and ensure consistency of enforcement of waste legislation.

The Southern Region WERLA covers Clare, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, Kilkenny, Carlow, Wexford, Waterford, and Cork.

Regulations

Food waste regulations, amended in December 2023, mean that waste collectors are now obliged to provide food waste bins to households throughout Ireland.

However, Cork County Council’s senior waste enforcement officer Caoimhín Nolan said that a number of collectors are breaching these regulations.

Every household and every commercial premises should be segregating their waste properly, she said.

“That means the residual waste in the residual bin, separating recyclables by mixed, dry, and loose, and disposing of food waste either in a compost bin or in the food waste bin provided by the waste collector,” she said. “Food waste should not be put in the residual bin.

“Across the country, there are bylaws in place that actually put legal requirements on people to separate their waste properly,” Ms Nolan added.

“Technically, a local authority could knock on your door and ask what you’re doing with your food waste and, if you don’t have a food waste bin and aren’t composting, they might hit you with a fixed penalty notice.

“However, we’re not interested in going after households ... our focus here is on the waste collector and their obligations.”

Permits

Ms Nolan stated that according to both food waste regulations and waste collection permits, collectors are obliged to provide their customers with a wheelie bin for food waste and inform them of the requirement to make proper use of it.

“You have the option to turn it down, but only if you’re legitimately handling your food waste another way, such as home composting,” she explained.

“If you’re a new customer, the waste collector has to give you the wheelie bin, a kitchen caddie, an information leaflet and roll of compostable bags to get you started on the right track.

“We’ve been doing a lot of inspections over the last year and holding compliance meetings. We’ve been pushing very hard to get the collectors to roll out the bins.

“We’re at the stage now where we’re considering legal action against a number of collectors for ongoing breaches where they haven’t met the requirements,” Ms Nolan said. 

“We’re at the evidence- gathering stage now.

“There’s only so long we can work with them [collectors] — there comes a time where we have to tell them to go faster.”