Interstate waste management update
After making recent reforms to address the management of waste in Queensland, introducing a container refund scheme and a single-use plastic bag ban, investment in biofuel projects to support waste-to-energy projects, the Queensland Government has announced that effective almost immediately, there will be crack down on interstate bulk waste transport activities to ensure that operators are strictly complying with all necessary regulatory requirements.
“We have led operations, including heavy vehicle searches and a special pollution hotline to allow the public to report illegal dumping to the Department” the Premier said.
“As I have said the revelation this week that the NSW Government is not enforcing its own laws is alarming. These border inspections by the Department of Transport and Main Roads will focus on the movement of hazardous wastes such as asbestos to ensure that Queenslanders are kept safe.”
The Department of Environment and Heritage Protection will also step up regular compliance checks at key waste landfill sites to ensure that they are operating within their environmental authority conditions.
Next week, the Premier will convene a meeting of waste and recycling industry representatives, agencies and the Local Government Association of Queensland to discuss other long-term strategies to manage waste.
“This issue needs to be addressed with cooperation of the States, she said. That is why the new cross border agreement between New South Wales and Queensland included cooperation on waste management. I reached that agreement with former Premier Mike Baird. I am looking for that cooperation to continue from the current Premier of New South Wales”.
The hotline number is 1300 130 372.
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