Waste management and resource recovery framework
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The focus of the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) in managing waste is to provide a clear and consistent regulatory and policy framework that minimises harm to the environment and encourages waste avoidance and resource recovery. This framework uses a mix of legislative, policy, educative and economic tools.
OEH administers the waste regulatory framework through the state’s primary environment protection legislation, the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (POEO Act), together with the Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Act 2001 and the Protection of the Environment Operations (Waste) Regulation 2005. These key statutes contain the requirements for managing, storing, transporting, processing, recovering and disposing of waste.
Regulatory mechanisms set out in the legislation such as the waste and environment levy help drive waste avoidance and resource recovery by providing an economic incentive to reduce waste disposal and stimulate investment and innovation in resource recovery technologies.
To facilitate the beneficial reuse of waste materials, OEH is able to exempt from certain regulatory requirements the use of waste as fuel or its application to land. These exemptions are known as resource recovery exemptions and are only issued where the proposed use of the waste material is beneficial and does not cause harm to the environment or human health.
Reducing the generation of waste and turning it into recoverable resources are priorities for NSW. To meet this challenge, a number of programs have been established under the Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Strategy.
Managing waste in NSW
Page last updated: 19 January 2012
