Environmental issues

Waste and resource recovery

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Review of the Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Act 2001

The lead up to the Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Act 2001 (WARR Act) and the period since the Act was proclaimed has already seen a major overhaul of waste policy objectives and the framework for waste management in NSW. The WARR Act resulted in the abolition of waste boards, the formation of a specialist waste reduction agency (Resource NSW), a requirement for a NSW Waste Strategy and waste reduction targets and the introduction of strengthened extended producer responsibility (EPR) provisions. Amendments were also made to the Act in 2004 as a result of the amalgamation of Resource NSW into the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC).

For copies of the Act visit http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/.  (A brief description of the key provisions of the Act are provided below).

Review

Under section 32 of the WARR Act, the Minister must review the Act within 12 months after the end of five years from the date of assent of the Act and table a report on the outcome of the review in each House of Parliament by the end of the 12-month period.

Section 32(1) requires the Minister to review the Act in order to determine whether:

  • the policy objectives of the Act remain valid, and
  • the terms of the Act remain appropriate for securing those objectives.

Public consultation closed 22 June 2007. Updates on the review and consultation process will be published late 2007.

A brief description of the key provisions of the WARR Act

Part 1 - Preliminary

Part 1 includes the objects of the WARR Act and defines certain terms. The objects of the Act (section 3) are as follows:

  1. to encourage the most efficient use of resources and to reduce environmental harm in accordance with the principles of ecologically sustainable development,
  2. to ensure that resource management options are considered against a hierarchy of the following order:
    1. avoidance of unnecessary resource consumption,
    2. resource recovery (including reuse, reprocessing, recycling and energy recovery),
    3. disposal,
  3. to provide for the continual reduction in waste generation,
  4. to minimise the consumption of natural resources and the final disposal of waste by encouraging the avoidance of waste and the reuse and recycling of waste,
  5. to ensure that industry shares with the community the responsibility for reducing and dealing with waste,
  6. to ensure the efficient funding of waste and resource management planning, programs and service delivery,
  7. to achieve integrated waste and resource management planning, programs and service delivery on a State-wide basis,
  8. to assist in the achievement of the objectives of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997.

The term 'waste' is defined in the Act to have the same meaning as in the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997.

Part 2 - Functions of the Director General

Part 2 sets out the Director-General's functions and powers of delegation under the Act. The functions of the Director-General (section 6) are as follows:

  1. to develop, implement or co-ordinate the implementation of (and evaluate strategies and programs for State-wide achievement of) government policy objectives in respect of:
    1. resource efficiency and waste reduction and management in relation to regions, industry sectors or material types, and
    2. community education and awareness in relation to resource efficiency and waste reduction and management, and
    3. programs for the prevention of litter and illegal dumping, and
    4. market development for recovered resources and recycled material, and
    5. information dissemination,
  2. to develop, co-ordinate and monitor the implementation of event and public space waste management codes,
  3. to assist local communities to enter into arrangements for regionally-based secondary resource recovery from waste,
  4. to assist in developing co-ordinated waste management services, including system and contract reform (such as contracts for waste and recycling services and system co-ordination),
  5. to research and develop waste reduction and resource efficiency infrastructure, technologies and systems,
  6. to develop and support training and education programs for resource efficiency, waste reduction and waste and litter management,
  7. to monitor, report on and evaluate the regional implementation of State-wide policies and strategies with respect to waste,
  8. to advise the Minister as to the kinds of articles, materials and substances that should be prohibited from being used for landfill or from being used in connection with other treatment processes, and the resource recovery options for those articles, materials and substances,
  9. such other functions as may be conferred or imposed on the Director-General by or under this or any other Act or law.

The Act provides that the Director-General may provide advice to the Minister on matters relating to waste policy and in the exercise of the Director-General's functions, to have regard to the principles of ecologically sustainable development.

 

Part 3 - Waste strategies

Part 3 requires the development of an initial Waste Strategy and for Strategies to be produced every two years thereafter. The Strategy is to contain targets for waste reduction, resource recovery and diversion of waste from landfill. It also requires the Waste Strategy to be subject to public consultation over a 28-day period and for all comments to be taken into account.

This part also provides for the Director-General to request a local council to provide reasons for any specified non-compliance by the local council with the objectives of a current waste strategy.

Part 4 - Responsibilities with respect to industry waste reduction

Part 4 provides that regulations may make provision for or with respect to the implementation and operation of extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes in connection with a product, group of products or an industry in NSW.

It defines an EPR scheme as one for giving effect to an environmental policy in which the producer's responsibility for a product (including physical or financial responsibility) is extended to the post-consumer stage of the product's life-cycle. For the purposes of the Act, an EPR scheme includes a product stewardship scheme.

Part 4 also provides that the Minister is not to recommend the making of a regulation for or with respect to the implementation of an EPR scheme unless the Minister is satisfied that it is necessary to do so having regard to the several matters. This includes the volume of waste involved, the existence of other effective schemes, including national schemes, whether economic analysis supports a mandatory scheme and whether there are any constitutional or other impediments to NSW acting unilaterally.

Under Part 4 of the Act, the Director-General has to publicly advertise each year a 'priority statement' with respect to the EPR schemes that the Director-General proposes to recommend for implementation; invite submissions on the statement and publish a consultation report on all submissions received.

Part 5 - Financial Provisions

Part 5 makes provisions for the Director-General to provide loans, grants, subsidies and other financial assistance for the purpose of exercising the Director-General's functions under the Act. It also provides that the Director-General may charge a fee for the supply of any services under the Act or regulations made under it. The Director-General may also acquire by gift, bequest or devise any property for the purposes of this Act and may agree to carry out the conditions of any such gift, bequest or devise.

Part 6 - Miscellaneous

Part 6 provides that the Director-General must prepare and deliver to the Minister for tabling in each House of Parliament a report every 2 years on the following matters:

  1. the volumes of waste avoided, produced, recycled or reused in NSW during the reporting period
  2. how those volumes compare with target volumes established by any current waste strategy
  3. a description of the strategies and programs being implemented by the Director-General and the degree of success achieved by them.

It also contains the regulation making powers under the Act and the maximum penalties that the regulations may prescribe for offences created by regulations made under the Act.

Part 6 also requires the Minister to review the Act and table a review report in both Houses of Parliament within 12 months from the end of five years after the date of assent of the Act. The review is to determine if the policy objectives of the Act remain valid and whether the terms of the Act remain appropriate for securing those objectives.

Schedules

Schedules 1 to 3 have been repealed.

Schedule 4 makes specific provisions consequent on:

  • the enactment of the Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Act 2001, in particular matters concerning the former Waste Boards and their employees, the former State Waste Advisory Council and any industry waste reduction plan
  • the enactment of the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act (No 2) 2003, in particular matters following the dissolution of Resource NSW.
  • the enactment of Brigalow and Nandewar Community Conservation Area Act 2005

Schedule 4 abolishes the Waste Fund and provides for the transfer of the money in the Waste Fund to the Environmental Trust Fund.

 

 

 

Page last updated: 04 March 2008