Over one-third of the sites named on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Priority List for Enforcement throughout 2019 were from the food and drink sector.
The EPA has today, Tuesday, February 4, published data on industrial and waste licence enforcement. This included the list of all businesses and sites that appeared on the enforcement list for last year.
The list names sites that have come under scrutiny for environmental reasons, including for issues of odour, noise and emissions to water.
In total, 833 EPA-licensed sites were examined throughout 2019. Over half of them (56%) had no issues of non-compliance recorded against them.
The EPA also noted a “marked reduction” (24%) in the number of complaints it received from the public about environmental concerns relating to licensed premises. The number of complaints was 608 in 2019, down from 799 in 2018, and 1,038 in 2017.
Commenting on the data, Dr. Tom Ryan, the director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Enforcement, said: “The EPA carried out 1,472 inspections to licensed industrial and waste sites in 2019, with 93% of these being unannounced. Overall, EPA-licensed industrial and waste sites exhibited a good level of compliance in 2019, which is reflected in a welcome reduction in the number of complaints from members of the public.
The EPA will continue to target its resources to drive environmental compliance and much-needed investment in environmental improvements.
Also today, the EPA published the list of priority sites for enforcement for July 2019 to January 2020. Six sites have been named on the list, two of which are involved in the agriculture or agri-food sectors.
These six sites are as follows: Arrow Group, Co. Kildare; Arran Chemical Company, Co. Roscommon; Saint-Gobain Construction Products (Ireland), Co. Monaghan; Tipperary Co-operative Creamery, Co. Tipperary; East Cork Landfill, Co. Cork; and The Hammond Lane Metal, Co. Cork.
Arrow Group includes the activities at this licensed site of Dawn Farm Foods; TCFG Naas (also known as The Culinary Food Group); QK Coldstores; Dawn Farms Distribution; and Maudlins Waste Management.
Arrow group appeared on the list for all four quarters of 2019, and the EPA said it remains concerned over its performance.
Arrow Group has committed to completing improvement works in early 2020 to address the issues identified, and the EPA said it is closely monitoring progress there.