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General exemptions

Current general exemptions under the Protection of the Environment Operations (Waste) Regulation 2005

The following general exemptions facilitate applying certain residue wastes to land when these wastes do not cause harm and can provide some benefit. They have been developed in collaboration with the Department of Primary Industries.

The land application of these residue wastes is exempt from the prohibition in clause 45 of the Protection of the Environment Operations (Waste) Regulation 2005 and certain other waste regulations, provided the responsible parties comply with the conditions of the relevant exemption.

The conditions in the exemptions minimise the risk of  harm to the environment, human health and agriculture. However, neither these exemptions nor their conditions guarantee that the environment will not be harmed.  The liability for any harm rests with the person who causes or permits the application of the residue waste to land.

In gazetting these general exemptions, the EPA is not endorsing the use of these substances or guaranteeing that the substances will benefit plant growth.

• The ash from burning bagasse and cane trash exemption 2006 BagasseNov2006.pdf (61 kb, requires Acrobat Reader)
• The ash from burning uncontaminated wood, timber, forestry residues or paper exemption 2006 BiomassNov2006.pdf (68 kb, requires Acrobat Reader)
• The fly ash and bottom ash from burning NSW or Queensland coal exemption 2006 FlyAshNov2006.pdf (60 kb, requires Acrobat Reader)
• The lime and gypsum residues from drinking water treatment exemption 2006 DrinkingWaterNov2006.pdf (53 kb, requires Acrobat Reader)
• The lime and gypsum residues from plasterboard exemption 2006 PlasterboardNov2006.pdf (57 kb, requires Acrobat Reader)
• The foundry sand exemption 2006 FoundrySandNov2006.pdf (60 kb, requires Acrobat Reader)
• The red mud residues exemption 2007 RedMudResiduesSept2007.pdf (50 kb, requires Acrobat Reader)