skipbins.net.auBox 3 of 6

Box 3 · Checking

Checking a waste business

The check that matters is where your load ends up. Ask the business which site will receive your waste, then look that site up on your state environment protection authority’s public register: EPA Victoria’s register lists the permissions it has issued since 1 July 2021, and the NSW EPA’s public register lists environment protection licences.

The guide drawn as a six-box form, with box 3, Checking, filled in Waste consignment Box 3 of 6 1 Your duty 2 Dumping 3 Checking 4 Levies 5 Site plans 6 Recovered

General information. A register entry shows what a site is permitted to do. It is not a rating of any business, and the registers themselves, linked at the foot of this page, are the record to rely on.

3.1Four steps before the skip leaves

  1. Ask where the load will go

    EPA Victoria’s own example of the transport duty starts here: the person managing the waste checks the contract with the transport company to see which facility it is being taken to. Ask the hire company to name the landfill, transfer station or recycling site that will take your skip.

  2. Look that site up

    In the same example, the facility is looked up on EPA Victoria’s public register and confirmed as able to lawfully receive the waste before the waste is allowed to go. In NSW, the public register kept under section 308 of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 holds environment protection licences, along with notices, penalty notices the EPA has issued and convictions in prosecutions under the Act.

  3. Match the waste to the permission

    A permission is specific. EPA Victoria explains that when a site accepts waste for treatment or disposal, its permission lists the types of waste it may accept and how they can be treated, and that the register shows each permission’s start and end dates, status, location and conditions.

  4. Keep the paperwork

    Keep whatever record you are given of where the load went. Queensland’s advice on what to ask for is in Box 1.

3.2What a Victorian register record shows

EPA Victoria’s register of permissions covers licences, permits, registrations, exemptions and temporary authorisations issued since 1 July 2021. Each record carries these details, in the EPA’s terms:

ID and dates
The permission or statutory document ID, its issue date and its expiry date
Status
Whether the permission is current
Location and activity
Where the site is, and the activity the permission covers
Holder
The permission holder’s name and address
Conditions
Any conditions that apply, and any waste information attached to the permission
Documents
The statutory document itself, where it is available

You can search by the permission or document ID, or by record details: type, activity, the duty holder’s name, suburb or postcode, waste code and status. The register is updated overnight, so a change can take up to 24 hours to appear, and permissions issued before 1 July 2021 are available from the EPA on request.

3.3Lawful without a permission

An empty search is not always the end of the question, because not every lawful place holds a permission. EPA Victoria sets out several ways a person, place or premises can be authorised to receive industrial waste:

  • a permission (a licence, permit or registration) covering that type of waste
  • an exemption from needing a permission, which the register also shows
  • the circumstances listed in regulation 63 of the Environment Protection Regulations 2021
  • a waste determination that authorises receiving that type of waste, on its conditions (Box 6)
  • an industry declaration of use, a copy of which you can ask the receiver for
  • a temporary authorisation for waste discharge or disposal, often used in emergencies, which can take time to reach the register

Regulation 63 includes, for example, a place receiving no more than 5 cubic metres of industrial waste that is not priority waste, where receiving it needs no permission and the waste is not for applying to land. If you cannot find a temporary authorisation on the register, the EPA suggests contacting it to confirm.

3.4Searching the NSW register

The NSW register lets you search for this information, or download the full list of licences issued under the Act.

The EPA’s tips, in short: a name or suburb is matched as an exact phrase, so type it without quotation marks, and a partial word such as “North” returns every record beginning with it. A proprietary limited company is found under “pty ltd” rather than “P/L”, and the search doesn’t accept logic searches.

3.5Questions to ask the hire company

These are this guide’s suggestions, drawn from the duties in Box 1.

  • Which site will receive my skip?
  • Is that site permitted to take this kind of waste?
  • Will mixed waste be sorted for recycling, or go straight to landfill?
  • What record will I get of where the load went?

The other boxes on this form