Waste disposal categories – characteristics and thresholds

In Victoria, waste must be classified to meet waste duties under Part 6.4 and 6.5 of the Environment Protection Act 2017(opens in a new window).

Part 4.2 of the Environment Protection Regulations 2021(opens in a new window) specifies the process for classifying waste.

These Waste disposal categories – characteristics and thresholds, as published by us from time to time, are incorporated into the Regulations without modification.

These establish the characteristics and thresholds necessary for complying with the Regulations, specifically for classification of wastes to determine the relevant waste disposal category in accordance with Schedule 6 of the Regulations.

If you hold industrial waste, you must use these criteria and thresholds to determine the waste disposal category, unless the category is determined by the Regulations.

Classification of priority waste must be consistent with any designation issued by us for that type of priority waste.

How to use the tables

The tables below list criteria against which certain priority wastes must be assessed to determine which waste disposal category applies.

Table 1 provides hazard characteristics for the assessment of priority waste that is identified as Category A waste in the Regulations. These characteristics must be assessed to determine which category applies to the waste.

Table 2 provides contaminant thresholds for the assessment of priority waste that is not identified as Category A waste in the Regulations and does not have any of the characteristics in Table 1. This waste must be assessed against the contaminant thresholds in Table 2.

Any reference in this document to soil that contains asbestos does not include soil from which visible asbestos-containing material has been removed, so far as reasonably practicable, from the soil by the person proposing to supply, store, transport, sell, use or re-use the soil. See regulation 217 of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017(opens in a new window) for further information.

Testing requirement

Wherever this publication requires testing to be completed – such as for leachable concentration or total concentration – that testing must be undertaken by a National Association of Testing Authorities Australia (NATA) accredited laboratory.

Definitions

ADG Code – Australian Code for the Transport of Dangerous Goods by Road & Rail.

Fill material – as defined in the Environment Protection Regulations, fill material is industrial waste that is soil –

(a) with contaminant concentrations not exceeding the upper limits for fill material waste contaminants specified in the Waste disposal categories – characteristics and thresholds; and

(b) does not contain asbestos.¹

Leachable concentration – the leachable concentration of a contaminant, as determined in accordance with Australian Standards AS 4439.2-1997 and AS 4439.3-1997 and expressed as an ASLP value in the Australian Standard Leaching Procedure.

Priority waste – as defined in the Environment Protection Act 2017, priority waste is any waste, including municipal waste and industrial waste, that is prescribed to be priority waste for the purposes of –

(a) eliminating or reducing risks of harm to human health or the environment posed by the waste; or

(b) ensuring the priority waste is managed in accordance with Part 6.5 of the Act; or

(c) facilitating waste reduction, resource recovery and resource efficiency.

Schedule 5 of the Regulations – provides a list of waste codes and classifications under the Regulations.

Schedule 6 of the Regulations – provides a definition, or criteria-based assessment, for each category of priority waste.

TC – total concentration of contaminants.

¹ Note that, in accordance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004, industrial waste that is soil does not contain asbestos if all visible asbestos-containing material (that is, any manufactured material or object that, as part of its design, contains asbestos) has been removed, so far as reasonably practicable, from the soil by the person proposing to supply, store, transport, sell, use or re-use the soil.

Table 1: Specific characteristics

The following table lists and describes the characteristics used for the assessment of priority wastes to determine the relevant category.

Notes for Table 3

1. Total sum of 4-chloro-3-methylphenol, 2-chlorophenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol, 2,6-dichlorophenol, pentachlorophenol, 2,3,4,5-tetrachlorophenol, 2,3,4,6-tetrachlorophenol, 2,3,5,6-tetrachlorophenol, 2,4,5-trichlorophenol, and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol.
2. Total sum of phenol, 2-methylphenol (o-cresol), 3-methylphenol (m-cresol), 4-methylphenol (p-cresol), 2,4-dimethylphenol, 2.4-dinitrophenol, 2-methyl-4,6-dinitrophenol, 2-nitrophenol, 4-nitrophenol, 2cyclohexyl-4,6-dinitrophenol and dinoseb.
3. Total sum of benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, xylenes (includes ortho, para and meta xylenes) and styrene.
4. Total sum of naphthalene, acenaphthylene, acenaphthene, anthracene, benzo(a)anthracene, benzo(b)fluoranthene, benzo(k)fluoranthene, benzo(g,h,i)perylene, benzo(a)pyrene, chrysene, dibenzo(a,h)anthracene, fluorene, fluoranthene, indeno(1,2,3-c,d)pyrene, phenanthrene and pyrene.
5. Total sum of carbon tetrachloride, chlorobenzene, chloroform, 1,2-dichlorobenzene, 1,4-dichlorobenzene, 1,2-dichloroethane, 1,1-dichloroethene, 1,2-dichloroethene, dichloromethane (methylene chloride), 1,1,1,2-tetrachloroethane, 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane, 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene, 1,1,1- trichloroethane, 1,1,2-trichloroethane, trichloroethene, tetrachloroethene, vinyl chloride and hexachlorobutadiene.
6. Total sum of aldrin, hexachlorobenzene, alpha BHC, beta BHC, gamma BHC (lindane), delta BHC, chlordane, DDT, DDD, DDE, dieldrin, endrin, endrin aldehyde, heptachlor, heptachlor epoxide, methoxychlor and endosulfan (includes endosulfan I, endosulfan II and endosulfan sulphate).

Table 2: Waste disposal contamination concentrations and leachable concentrations

Parts 6.4 and 6.5 of the Environment Protection Act 2017 provide duties for persons managing industrial and priority waste.

To adequately understand the risk of waste, you need to conduct appropriate sampling and analysis. To determine an appropriate sampling and assessment regime, refer to relevant guidance.

Assessment must include all chemical substances known and reasonably expected to be present in the waste. This may mean that not all contaminants listed in Table 2 are analysed in every waste. For contaminants not listed in Table 2, contact us for further guidance or a designation.

Table 3: Fill material contamination total concentration upper limit

For the purposes of the definition of fill material in the Regulations, the total concentration thresholds in Table 3 are the upper limit for industrial waste that is soil.

Soil that exceeds the total concentration threshold of any contaminant in Table 3 is priority waste, unless we issue a designation saying otherwise. If you are aware of known or likely contaminants that are not included in this table, contact us for further guidance or a designation.