International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

It is widely suggested that the existing structure of responsibilities is not tenable.
Such tensions as already exist could be heightened as waste management in Ireland
moves into a phase in which major items of infrastructure will have to be developed.
In such a situation, the potential for local authorities to exert their influence over the
structure of the market to achieve market dominance could give rise to
understandable concerns.
One could start from the perspective that in order to eliminate the perception, and the
possible reality of, a conflict of interest, two extreme possibilities exist:
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� The local authority withdraws completely from service provision; and
� The local authority withdraws completely from any regulatory role.
Between these two extremes, clearly, there are many possibilities for some ‘middle
ground’ to emerge. Such a middle ground would, of course, need to be considered
very carefully to ensure that the respective roles did not engender potential for a
continuation of real, or perceived, conflicts. The extremes serve, however, to highlight
some of the key issues.
At present the EPA is responsible for proactive waste management which includes
providing information on waste prevention and implementing regulations e.g. the
Waste Electrical and Electronics Equipment Directive. Other duties include drafting a
hazardous waste management plan. 102
The EPA could, in principle, replace the local authority as a regulator by assuming the
regulatory roles of the local authority. This might make for more even application of
the regulatory apparatus, and ought to ensure that local authorities and the private
sector are dealt with in a more even-handed basis.
Taking the regulatory role away from the local authorities would enable centralisation
of the regulatory functions and level the playing field across actors in the sector. It
would also enable local authorities to maintain, should they be sufficiently
competitive, a presence as service providers within the sector. This may be desirable
in Ireland as a means to maintain greater competition in the market, especially if
recommendations made above – to introduce competition for, rather than in, the
market – are implemented, since in this context, it is important to attract sufficient
numbers of bidders for a given tender.
On the other hand, if local authorities were removed from operations completely, one
could argue that they could concentrate upon the regulatory function more effectively.
It is not clear, however, that this balance – involvement in regulation, but no
involvement in service delivery – sits easily with local authorities. Indeed, to the
extent that local authorities are obvious bodies to take over responsibility for
household waste collection in a situation where competition ‘for the market’ is
102 EPA, 2007, National Waste Prevention Programme: Annual Report, available at:
http://www.epa.ie/downloads/pubs/waste/prevention/final%204th%20nwpp%20annual%20report%2
0to%20minister%20july%202008%2022.pdf
29/09/09