Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

357 Chapter 13: Environment and Industry Topic Box 13.8  Dairy processing in Ireland and dairy processors on the national priority sites list The amount of milk entering Irish milk processing plants has risen by over 50% since the abolition of milk quotas in 2015, with volumes peaking at 8824 million litres in 2022 compared with 5648 million litres in 2014. The volume of milk processed decreased slightly during 2023, to 8459 million litres. 25 In recent years, while some parts of the dairy processing sector have invested significantly to ensure compliance with environmental standards (Figure 13.21), many plants have failed to maintain compliance with their environmental obligations during this expansion period. The inclusion of nine dairy sites on the EPA NPS list, representing 30% of all EPA-licensed dairy processing plants in Ireland, highlights a significant issue that the sector needs to address. The provision of environmental controls and the associated infrastructure in the sector has often lagged behind other sectors. Figure 13.21 Waste water treatment at a dairy processing plant in Ireland Processing milk into various products (powder, butter, cheese, etc.) results in significant volumes of waste water that require treatment prior to being discharged to the environment. It is the poor management of this waste water treatment process that has given rise to issues in the industry. Nuisance odour from dairy sites is usually associated with waste water treatment processes. The presence of dairy fats in certain conditions, such as warm weather, can lead to the generation of offensive odours. An analysis of odour complaints from the food and drink sector over the past five years indicates an overall increase in odour complaints between March and September. This coincides with the main milk processing season. 25 Data Milk Statistics September 2023 – Central Statistics Office (accessed 25 July 2024). While the dairy processing sector has taken the commercial opportunity to increase production levels, it has not matched this with investment in environmental controls at a number of processing sites. With sufficient investment and infrastructure, treatment of waste water from the dairy sector can readily comply with statutory requirements. The waste industry in Ireland has evolved over the past 20 years, with the closure of many landfills, the development of waste-to-energy plants and the expansion of waste transfer and processing facilities. Transfer stations handling non-hazardous waste were the main waste facility type to be placed on the NPS list, mainly because of a lack of adequate capacity and suitable infrastructure. Non-hazardous waste transfer stations handle all domestic waste and the majority of commercial and industrial waste generated in Ireland. Handling waste without creating nuisance impacts, such as those caused by odour, noise and flies, must be a priority for site operators, who need to take a proactive approach to addressing these issues. Four of the five landfill site issues that appeared on the NPS list related to poor post-closure management of landfill gas and leachate. While the closures of many of the older local authority-operated landfills were accelerated as a result of the requirements of the Landfill Directive (1999/31/EC), thus resolving many operational issues such as odour, litter and pests (e.g. flies, birds, vermin), there remain legacy issues that have not been appropriately managed. The continued management of closed landfills is a challenge that needs to be prioritised by local authorities. Maturity of environmental management and compliance. The enforcement function of the EPA continues to be a keystone driving good environmental industry performance in Ireland. The overall context has evolved since the EPA first licensed industry in 1994. Industry has moved from a period of early regulation into the current period of advanced environmental management, where most industry now provides adequate financial and human resources to achieve and maintain compliance, including going beyond compliance in many instances. A progression in compliance can often be seen across regulated communities through the implementation of management systems that drive continuous improvement. The EPA’s licensing process requires all licensed installations to prepare and implement an environmental management system. This has resulted in a steady shift from ‘reactive’ to ‘optimised and resilient’ compliance (Figure 13.22).