The Department of the Environment has published draft guidelines for planning authorities on carrying out environmental impact assessment. The purpose of the guidelines is to provide practical guidance to planning authorities and An Bord Pleanála and result in greater consistency in the methodology adopted by consent authorities. The public consultation period runs until Friday 14...

Directive 2006/11/EC on pollution caused by certain dangerous substances discharged into the aquatic environment of the Community defines Standards for Phosphorus in waters.  Known as the Dangerous Substances Directive it replaces Directive 76/464/EEC. The directive is implemented in Ireland by S.I.684/2007 Waste Water Discharge (Authorisation) Regulations 2007

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The Draft National Implementation Plan for Persistent Organic Pollutants sets out the current situation in relation to Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in Ireland and describes how Ireland is meeting its obligations under the Stockholm Convention on POPs. The draft document also contains an Action Plan in relation to measures to reduce emissions of unintentional POPs....

The founding legislation for the EPA (the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992) required that the Environmental Protection Agency ‘ensures, in so far as is practicable, that a proper balance is achieved between the need to protect the environment (and the cost of such protection) and the need for infrastructural, economic and social progress’ [Section 52(2) of the...

The prior assessment of Plans and Projects is regarded as a key step in the move towards sustainable development within the European Union.  The Amsterdam Treaty of 1997 confirmed sustainable development as an objective of the EU and required that environmental protection be integrated into all EU policies.  The SEA Directive, adopted in June 2001,...

Revised directives on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and major accident hazards (Seveso III) have been published following final approval by EU ministers. The recast WEEE directive applies tougher national collection targets The existing collection target – at least four kilograms per person from private households – will remain in place until the end...

A new certification and audit scheme for recycling post-consumer plastics will be officially launched Europe-wide in August. EuCertPlast was devised and launched by converters, recyclers and collectors of plastic in order to certify and audit post-consumer plastics recycling and aims to standardise transparency, waste traceability, and environmentally friendly best practices within the plastics recycling industry...

Harvesting rainwater and recycling greywater are well known and established practices. Blackwater reuse (from toilets) does not have as high a profile, but that may change after it has been used at the 2012 Olympic Games. Wastewater from London’s sewers will be treated and used to fill toilets, for landscape irrigation at the Olympic Park...

The Water Pollution Act (1977) defined a ‘trade effluent’ as an effluent, “which is discharged from premises used for carrying on any trade or industry (including mining) but does not include domestic sewage or storm water”. All ‘trade effluents’ must be licensed. Discharges of domestic-type wastewater (sewage) from commercial and industrial premises to municipal sewers...