Interstate trackable waste received
Key Finding
About 97% of the trackable waste received in Queensland from other Australian states and territories in 2018–19 came from New South Wales.
Queensland's waste tracking laws regulate the transport of environmentally significant waste. Trackable wastes are regulated wastes generated from commercial and industrial activities and are listed in Schedule 11 of the Environmental Protection Regulation 2019.
Waste generators, waste transporters and waste receivers have specific obligations when handling regulated waste and trackable wastes, to ensure regulated wastes are appropriately transported and managed and do not cause environmental harm.
The movement of trackable waste into Queensland from another Australian state or territory requires Department of Environment and Science approval before the transportation may commence. This ensures that any trackable regulated waste transported into Queensland is transported to a facility that is appropriately licensed to receive, treat, process and/or dispose of the waste. Upon approval, a consignment number is allocated for a load or loads of waste, which is required to be included on waste tracking documentation.
The largest waste groups included:
- solid/sludge wastes requiring special handling (43%)
- oils and hydrocarbons (29%).
About 120,120 tonnes of trackable waste was received from interstate sources in 2018–19 financial year.
- This represents less than 10% of the total amount of waste received by Queensland waste facilities.
- 97% of this interstate trackable regulated waste came from New South Wales.
More information:
Relevant Sustainable Development Goals’ targets
Download data from Queensland Government data
Metadata
Tonnage of interstate trackable waste received for each period from 2016–2017; 2017–2018 and 2018–2019, by waste description and category. Due to the manual verification requirements associated with the receipt and processing of paper waste tracking certificates and a current processing backlog, the data used for these figures is based on an incomplete data set. Data may also vary due to dependency on state of origin requirements for waste tracking across Australia (i.e. waste codes). Consequently, assumptions have been made to draw conclusions from the data, including weight conversion.