The Department of Climate Action has extended a burning exemption which allows farmers to burn, as a last resort, certain farm waste until 1 January 2021.

The exemption falls under the Waste Management (Prohibition of Waste Disposal by Burning) Regulations 2009.

The regulation allows for the disposal of waste by burning under certain conditions, such as: uncontaminated wood, trees, tree trimmings, leaves, brush, or other similar waste generated by farming.

This is provided that such burning is done as a final measure after other options, such as waste reduction and the salvaging of waste for use as fuel, have been exhausted.

Farmers must provide notice to the local authority at least five days in advance of the intention to burn.

“The existing exemption has been extended until 1 January 2021 to allow for further consideration of the matter from both a waste management perspective and in the context of the National Clean Air Strategy currently being finalised,” a spokesperson for the Department told the Irish Farmers Journal.