Queensland’s rules on regulated waste

Queensland’s Environmental Protection Regulation 2019 defines regulated waste as commercial or industrial waste of a type listed in its schedule 9, and Business Queensland explains how it is sorted into categories by risk. Two kinds of waste get particular care: Queensland’s asbestos site says asbestos is a regulated waste with requirements that apply whoever transports it, and Business Queensland says regulated waste transport laws apply to asbestos and lead acid batteries even when a load holds only residues.

General information about Queensland’s rules, not legal advice. Business Queensland and the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation are the places to check.

The definition, in the Regulation’s words

Section 42 of the Regulation says, in subsections (1) and (3):

“Regulated waste is waste that

(a) is commercial waste or industrial waste; and

(b) is of a type, or contains a constituent of a type, mentioned in schedule 9, part 1, column 1.”

“However, waste is not regulated waste if the waste is of a type mentioned in schedule 9, part 3, division 1.”

Environmental Protection Regulation 2019, section 42

Both halves of part (a) are defined in the Regulation’s dictionary. Commercial waste is waste, “other than green waste, recyclable waste, interceptor waste or waste discharged to a sewer, produced as a result of the ordinary use or occupation of commercial premises.” Industrial waste is defined partly by what it is not, and its list of exclusions includes “commercial waste”, “domestic waste”, “domestic clean-up waste” and “green waste”. Domestic waste has its own definition: waste produced “as a result of the ordinary use or occupation of domestic premises”, other than the kinds that definition lists.

Read on its own, the section 42 definition starts from commercial and industrial waste. The asbestos rule below is the one Queensland’s asbestos site says applies to anyone who transports it.

Three levels of risk

Business Queensland describes the Regulation’s framework this way:

“The Environmental Protection Regulation 2019 (the Regulation) includes a risk-based waste classification framework where regulated waste is classified as either:

• category 1 regulated waste (highest risk)
• category 2 regulated waste (moderate risk)
• not-regulated waste/general waste (lowest risk).”

Regulated waste classification, Business Queensland

It says the waste’s generator is responsible for putting it in a category, either by adopting a default category from schedule 9 or by having it sampled and tested by an appropriately qualified person.

Asbestos

Queensland’s asbestos site is direct about it: “asbestos is classified as a ‘regulated waste' under Queensland environmental legislation meaning that there are specific requirements that must be met when it is transported by anyone.” Business Queensland adds that the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation licenses the businesses that transport asbestos waste and the landfills that accept it. A removal licence is not a transport licence: “Holding Class A and Class B asbestos removal licences issued under the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 does not permit you to transport asbestos.” A separate approval from the department is needed.

The asbestos site gives two ways of disposing of it, each with its own conditions:

“There are two options for disposing of asbestos:

Asbestos waste is double-wrapped in 0.2 mm thick plastic bags or sheeting, sealed with tape and labelled double wrapped and transported to a landfill site that accepts asbestos. There are also laws surrounding the transport of asbestos.

Label all bags with an appropriate warning such as:

CAUTION - ASBESTOS
DO NOT DAMAGE OR OPEN BAG
DO NOT INHALE DUST

Asbestos waste is placed into a plastic-lined industrial skip that may have been provided by a waste contractor with an environmental authority to transport regulated waste.”

Important disposal information and illegal dumping, Queensland Government (asbestos.qld.gov.au)

The same page also says it is illegal to re-use, recycle or illegally dump asbestos products, or to store, sell or give asbestos away.

Waste tracking, and the 250 kg line

Business Queensland says the state’s waste tracking laws regulate the transport of environmentally significant waste, and that generators, transporters and receivers each have obligations. Its page for generators puts the first role simply: you are the generator if you produce a trackable waste.

Section 96 of the Regulation sets the rule about handing it on:

“A generator of trackable waste must not give the waste to another person to transport it in a vehicle for a fee or reward, or in a load of more than 250kg, unless the other person holds, or is acting under, an environmental authority for transporting the waste in the vehicle.”

Environmental Protection Regulation 2019, section 96(1)

For the person driving, Business Queensland’s transporter page says that anyone transporting commercial and industrial regulated wastes in any quantity, or more than 250kg of regulated trackable waste non-commercially, must record and submit waste tracking information. The same page links a list of exemptions from the tracking requirements.

On asbestos and lead acid batteries, Business Queensland says that if you are a generator, transporter or receiver of those wastes, you are required to record and submit prescribed information on them. Asbestos has its own transport limits in Queensland. The state’s asbestos site sets out when transporting it needs an environmental authority and when it needs waste tracking documentation, for homeowners as well as businesses, on its requirements for transporting asbestos page.

A car battery in Brisbane

For a household in Brisbane, Council’s resource recovery centres list lead acid car batteries among the batteries they accept. Council’s hazardous waste page says batteries should not go in any household red, yellow or green bin, and that damaged batteries, whether cracked, smashed, swollen or leaking, need special handling because of fire and explosion risks.