Many civil engineering contracts involving significant earthworks now require ‘Waste Management License Regulations Exemption Certificates’ to be prepared to facilitate the removal of surplus spoil (topsoil and subsoil) to a landfill site situated on agricultural land.

Generally, the landfill site identified is close to the source of the excess spoil and a clear case has to be made to use the spoil to improve the agricultural potential and utilisation of the landfill site after reinstatement.

The ‘Exemption Certificate’ provides full details of the infill operation and how the site is to be reinstated afterwards, to ensure that the benefit, from an agricultural point of view, is realised after infilling.

Over the past 2 years, since the introduction of the legislation, Exemption Certificates have been prepared for submission to the Environmental and Heritage Service in Northern Ireland or the Environmental and Heritage Service in Dublin, to facilitate the infilling of:

1) Low-lying agricultural land, often with serious waterlogging problems
2) Uneven fields with steep, dangerous slopes
3) Reinstatement of gravel or clay pits, where product has been removed to facilitate new road works.