The NSW environment department today proposed an overhaul of the state’s main regulation on waste. The changes would alter the rules governing the use of waste as a fuel and its application to land, simplify the waste facility licensing regime and amend some criteria for non-waste environmental licensing.

Under the changes, all waste or waste-derived materials will be classified as waste if they are applied to land or used as fuel. However, the Department of Environment and Climate Change would have power to issue general or partial exemptions from regulatory requirements and to impose conditions on any exemptions.

The changes would facilitate bona fide re-use of wastes on land and for energy recovery “in ways that protect human health and the environment”, NSW Environment Minister Phil Koperberg said. This is “a far better option than simply dumping it in landfill,” he said..

The exposure draft of the Protection of the Environment Operations Amendment (Scheduled Activities and Waste) Regulation 2007 would also: • reduce the number of waste facility licensing categories from ten to four – waste processing; waste storage; waste disposal by application to land; waste disposal by thermal treatment. • remove provisions dealing with collection and storage of asbestos waste, so that the collection and storage of asbestos will be solely regulated by WorkCover NSW. • change the way landfills manage asbestos waste including by removing the requirement for prior delivery notification, inserting a requirement for immediate covering of asbestos waste and doubling penalties for mismanagement. • change the definition of clinical and related waste to include sharps used by healthcare workers in the home and sharps collected in public places. Large hospitals, day procedure centres and other major facilities generating clinical waste will be required to prepare a clinical waste management plan.

The proposals would also change non-waste environmental licensing criteria for ceramic works, electricity generation, chemical industries, freeways and tollways and mobile plant. The changes for electricity generation are expected to oblige another eight generators outside Sydney to obtain an environmental protection licence.

The Waste Management Association of Australia’s NSW president Mike Ritchie welcomed the changes.

“The waste management industry has been calling for changes to the definitions of waste for at least a decade and it’s great to see the NSW Government make these moves,” he said.

Public comment on the changes closes October 29.

Exposure Draft: Protection of the Environment Operations Amendment (Scheduled Activities and Waste) Regulation 2007

Draft Resource Recovery Exemptions (Land Application) Guidance Note (NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change, September 18, 2007)