The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) has said that there will be no further extension to the exemption allowing for the on-farm burning of cut agricultural green waste.
The department has confirmed to Agriland that the final extension to the exemption will come to an end as planned this Thursday (November 30).
The Waste Management Regulations 2009 makes it an offence to dispose of waste by burning.
An initial five-year exemption, which has been extended on several occasions, provided for burning where it was done as a final measure after the preferred alternatives had been assessed and the local authority was notified.
The material to be burned could only consist of uncontaminated wood, trees, tree trimmings, leaves, brush, or other similar waste generated by agricultural practices.
Burning
In early 2023, the department announced that burning agricultural green waste would no longer be permitted after November 30, 2023.
This will improve air quality and human health, better utilise material for sustainable alternative uses and enhance and promote biodiversity, the department said.
In advance of this deadline, DECC allowed for two final burning windows, one in the spring and a second which began on September 1.
It followed the publication of a feasibility study carried out by the Irish Bioenergy Association (IrBEA) on behalf of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
This study explored options for the sustainable management of agricultural green waste in Ireland.
Extension
The IFA Environment Committee chair Paul O’Brien has urged the government to consider a further extension allowing farmers to burn green waste.
“The weather conditions for the last couple of months have been horrendous as we know.
“It has affected farmers’ ability to be able to actually go onto land to gather up green waste and deal with it in an appropriate manner,” he said.
The IFA chair pointed to recent extensions which were granted for slurry spreading and changes to how farmyard manure is dealt with due to the weather.
“What I’m looking for is flexibility and a common sense approach by the government this year, taking into account the very, very wet autumn that we’ve had,” O’Brien said.
However, the DECC has ruled out any further extension meaning that farmers must consider alternative sustainable management practices for the green waste on their farms.
“It has been well flagged with the sector that this is the final extension to an exemption that was originally intended to expire in 2015 under the regulations,” a spokesperson for DECC told Agriland.
In September, DAFM wrote to farmers outlining the alternatives to burning agricultural green waste.
The suggestions included regular flailing of hedgerows, creating a nature pile and biodiversity habitats and fuel (woodchip) for off-farm energy generation.
The department noted that under the new Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme (TAMS 3) grants can be provided to farmers for a wood/biomass drying shed and for power take-off (PTO)-driven wood/biomass chipper equipment.