This is a summary of our waste and recycling guidance. Download the guide for more information. You can print the waste and recycling poster for your business.
The waste and recycling industry includes any business involved in the collection, consignment, transportation, handling, recycling, treatment, storage and disposal of waste material.
It also includes operators of:
- transfer stations
- waste classification hubs
- landfill sites
- thermal waste treatment
- recycling depots
- compost facilities
- alternative waste treatment facilities.
Your legal obligations
The Environment Protection Act 2017(opens in a new window) establishes the legal framework for protecting human health and the environment in Victoria from waste and pollution.
Duties
The Act sets out 13 duties to protect human health and the environment. Duties apply to individuals and businesses.
The general environmental duty applies to any activity that creates a risk of harm to human health and the environment.
Other duties may also apply to your activities, including:
- duty to manage contaminated land
- duty to notify us of contaminated land
- duty to notify us of a notifiable incident
- duty to take action to respond to harm caused by a pollution incident
- unreasonable noise duty
- waste duties.
Regulations
The Environment Protection Regulations 2021(opens in a new window) support the Act to address some risks of harm that need further controls.
There may be specific requirements that apply to your activities under the Regulations – for example:
- noisy or smoky vehicles
- onsite wastewater management system
- ozone depleting substances, like methyl bromide and chlorofluorocarbons
- air pollutants that need to be reported to the National Pollutant Inventory
- Class 3 substances, such as benzene and nickel (refer to Schedule 4 of the Regulations(opens in a new window) for a list of Class 3 substances)
- plastic bags
- waste from marine or vessel activities.
Permissions
Under the environment protection legislation, we issue permissions for some activities. These include licences, permits and registrations. Different types of permissions have different requirements.
Examples of activities relating to waste and recycling that require a permission include:
- A05a – Landfills servicing 5,000 people or more
- A05b – Municipal landfills servicing less than 5,000 people
- A13a – Waste and resource recovery (large)
- A13b – Waste and resource recovery (medium)
- A13c – Waste and resource recovery (small)
- A14 – Reclaimed wastewater supply or use
- A21 – Temporary storage (biomedical waste)
- A23 – Temporary storage (designated waste)
- H05c – Glass works (small reprocessing).
Compliance and enforcement
We:
- support businesses to comply with the law through guidance and education
- enforce the law if the environment or community is deliberately or negligently exposed to harm.
Our authorised officers visit businesses and premises to:
- conduct inspections
- provide advice
- assess compliance with the law and any specific permission conditions.
Local councils also have powers to enforce certain environmental laws.
Risk management
It's your responsibility to understand and manage the risk of harm to human health and the environment from pollution and waste from any work you do.
Use a risk management process to help you eliminate or reduce risks so far as reasonably practicable.
Common waste and recycling hazards
A hazard is something that can cause harm to human health and the environment, particularly if it’s not managed well.
As part of the risk management process, you must identify hazards and assess their risks.
Common hazards in the waste and recycling industry include:
- chemical storage and handling
- dust
- smoke
- combustible waste
- treated timber waste
- waste soil
- electronic waste
- land and groundwater contamination
- noise
- odour
- stormwater contamination
- tyres
- wastewater.
This is not a complete list, but it gives you an idea of some waste and recycling hazards that may impact human health and the environment. Every site is different and may have a unique set of hazards and risks.
If you need more information to better understand hazards in your industry, sources of information include:
- Department of Transport and Planning for information about Victoria’s planning system
- Local councils for information about building regulations and the Victorian planning schemes and what they mean for your operations
- Planet Ark for information about recycling, including assistance for small and medium businesses finding reuse and recycling services
- VicRoads for information about Victoria’s road regulatory framework
- Victorian Building Authority for information about Victoria’s building regulatory framework
- WorkSafe Victoria for guidance and advice about health and safety at your workplace, including storing, handling and transporting dangerous goods and controlling exposure to crystalline silica.
Control measures
The controls you put in place depend on your business activities and hazards.
Check controls regularly to make sure that they’re working, well maintained and effective and that they remain the most appropriate option.
For more information about controls, download the waste and recycling guidance. You can use the action plan (Appendix A) as a template to list actions you can take to improve the way you control risks.
We also have some information about controls on our website:
Assess and minimise air pollution from your business
Control dust from your business
Control noise from your business
Control odour from your business
Manage and store combustible recyclable and waste materials
Manage clinical and related industrial waste
Manage electronic waste for reprocessing
Manage fire risk at your business
Industry example
This example shows how to use the risk management process to manage odour from waste and recycling activities.
Identify hazards and assess risks
Judith owns a composting business that receives and processes organic waste to make compost.
Odour is a known hazard in the industry. Judith understands it can cause nausea and headaches and can impact wellbeing.
Judith uses best-practice guidance about composting industrial waste to minimise odour.
Know the sources of odour
Judith's business composts green waste, but it also takes kerbside food and organic waste. Judith knows that organic waste, particularly food waste, produces odour.
Control and manage odour
Judith's business receives waste in a sealed building with automated doors that open and close quickly. The building also has extraction fans, which are an effective odour capture system. The fans channel smelly air to biofilters.
Judith's staff remove litter and other non-organic materials from the waste. They then shred it to begin the composting process. They do this in bunkers with an aeration system.
Staff follow a process to manage odours. They cover outdoor compost piles with a thin layer of mature compost. This acts as a mini-biofilter and helps absorb odour. They also lay out the piles with enough distance between them to allow access in case of fire.
As compost matures, it becomes more odour neutral. Staff screen the mature compost outdoors before loading or packing it on to trucks for transportation.
Monitor and review controls
Staff conduct regular odour inspections at different times of the day. They record this information in a register.
Judith uses community feedback to help measure the effectiveness of odour controls. Judith keeps a log of complaints. Next to each complaint, Judith records:
- wind direction
- temperature
- time of the complaint
- details about what waste was being processed at the time.
If the controls do not work as intended, Judith considers additional or alternative odour controls.
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