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  • Head Office: Áras Chill Dara Devoy Park Naas Co Kildare W91 X77F

Environment

Environment Contacts:

Administration

045 980588

045 980587

Email

environ@kildarecoco.ie

Farm plastics

For information on recycling your farm plastics contact the Farm Film Producers Group (IFFPG) through their website on https://www.farmplastics.ie/ 

The IFFPG is Ireland’s only approved farm plastics recycling compliance scheme. 

https://www.farmplastics.ie/bring-centre-calendar/ for Bring-Centre Locations.  

What to do with Hedgerows?

Hedgerows are important heritage features. They provide food and shelter for a range of wildlife, including birds, insects and wildflowers and are an important part of our landscape.  www.pollinators.ie 

The Wildlife Act, 1976 as amended by the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000, gives some protection to wildlife in hedgerows. Under Section 46 of the Wildlife Amendment Act, 2000, it is forbidden to cut or remove hedgerows or destroy other vegetation during the bird nesting season, from the 1st of March to the 31st of August each year.

When hedgerows need to be trimmed, the hedge and tree cuttings should be reused or recycled in the following manner:

  • Allowing them to compost naturally back into the exisitng hedgerow
  • Mulching or shredding them on site
  • Transport them to the nearest recycling centre for shredding or mulching
  • Storing them until dry and burning them in domestic fire. The cinders and ash should be spread thinly on the ground in calm conditions (wood ash is readily soluble unlike coal or turf ash). wood ash adds to the fertility of soil. If this is not possible, the ash should be considered to be municipal domestic waste and disposed of accordingly.

Waste Management (Prohibition of Waste Disposal by Burning) Regulations 2009

The purpose of these Regulations is to make more explicit the offence of disposal of waste by uncontrolled or unregulated burning and outlines the actions which are prohibited by the Regulations, including disposal of household waste within the curtilage of a building and backyard burning of waste. Waste burners are also outlawed unless regulated under the Air Pollution Act.

Exemption is provided for certain agricultural practices but only as a last resort and after specified steps are taken to, reduce and recycle waste arising. The Department has amended Regulation S.I. 286 of 2009 to extend until 1 January 2016, the exemption which exists to allow farmers, to burn such waste as a last resort generated by agricultural practices. These activities will require registration with Kildare County Council.

The burning of waste relates solely to material consisting of uncontaminated wood, trees, tree trimmings, leaves, brush or other similar waste generated by agriculture practices, but excluding garden and park wastes and cemetery wastes and wastes arising from infrastructural development works, provided that such burning is done as a final measure following the application of the waste hierarchy as described of section 5 of the Waste Management (Prohibition of Waste Disposal By Burning) Regulations 2009.

Any uncontrolled burning of waste that causes, or is likely to cause, pollution is now explicitly in breach of both the Waste Management and Air Pollution legislation and Kildare County Council will instigate legal action against offenders.

If you require further information / clarification on this please contact the Environment Section at 045-980588

National Action Programme (Nitrates Directive) 

The purpose of the European Union (Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters) Regulations 2014 http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2014/si/31/made/en/pdf is to give effect to Ireland's Nitrates Action Programme for the protection of waters against pollution caused by agricultural sources.  

Good agricultural practice means farmers using fertilisers may only spread as much fertiliser as their crops need and fertilisers must not be spread at times of the year when the crops are not able to use them, and especially at times when they might find their way into water instead. All livestock manures and other organic fertilisers contain nitrogen and phosphorus. EU law means that surplus nitrogen and phosphorus must not be allowed to enter water. The Regulations include rules for using chemical fertiliser as well as livestock manure and other organic fertilisers, and they cover phosphorus as well as nitrogen.

The main elements of the Regulations are as follows:

  • You must not spread livestock manure and slurry containing more than 170 kgs of nitrogen per hectare in a year.

  • There are times of the year when you must not spread any fertiliser at all on your land, either organic or chemical. These are called the prohibited spreading periods.

  • You must not spread more fertiliser on your land than your crops need.

  • You must follow the rules about ploughing and applying non-selective herbicides.

  • You must keep various records, including records of the fertilisers you bring onto your holding or sent out of it. You have to keep records for each calendar year, which means 1 January to 31 December, and you must have them ready by 31 March of the following year. You are required to have records available on area farmed, cropping regime, types of livestock and numbers, storage facilities on farm etc.

Storage Periods for Livestock Manure

The storage period specified for the purposes of Articles 9(2), 10(2),12 and 16(5)(b) of the Regulations is 16 weeks in relation to holdings in County Kildare. 

What are the Prohibited Spreading Periods?   

In County Kildare the period during which the application of fertilisers to land is prohibited is the period from

(a) 15 September to 12 January in the case of the application of chemical fertiliser

(b) 15 October to 12 January in the case of the application of organic fertiliser (other than farmyard manure)

(c) 1 November to 12 January in the case of the application of farmyard manure.

Protocol for the use of Sewage Sludge in Agriculture in County Kildare 

The Protocol for the use of Sewage Sludge in Agriculture in County Kildare has been prepared by Kildare County Council to set out the specific requirements of a Nutrient Management Plan (NMP) and ensure legislative compliance. 

It outlines the information required to allow the suitability of each land bank to be assessed for sewage sludge application, including soil type, soil quality, soil nutrient status, local topography and the status of the groundwater. Details of the sludge are required to be set out including origin, treatment and sampling requirements.  The Protocol also requires information such as spreading restrictions, spreadland maps, transport and storage requirements and notification and reporting requirements to be included in the Nutrient Management Plan.  The Appendices contain the various compliance statements and agreements which must be signed and returned with the NMP prior to approval being granted.  This Protocol shall be agreed in writing and signed-off by all contractors involved in the supply of sewage sludge for use in agriculture within the functional area of Kildare County Council (See Agreement, Appendix 1). 

The above document is available to download from our Publications section http://kildare.ie/countycouncil/YourCouncil/Publications/Environment/ 

If you require any further information please contact the Environment Section on 045-980588