The Environment Protection (Waste Reform) Amendment Act 2017 was recently passed by Parliament.
The Governor granted assent to the new law on 14 November and it came into operation from 28 November.
Implementation of this Amendment Act will result in modernised and strengthened powers under the Environment Protection Act to:
- better support a strong, legitimate resource recovery sector through enabling better regulation of waste material flow and stockpiling, providing for the assessment of resource recovery proposals, enabling further clarity around when material is or is not ‘waste’ and enhancing compliance powers
- The ability to expiate licence condition breaches and new default penalties for breach of reporting deadline licence conditions
- improve the EPA’s ability to prosecute illegal dumping cases by addressing car owners’ responsibility for illegal dumping, enabling tracking device use, expanding authorised officer powers to enter certain premises and mark materials that are likely to be illegally dumped, and allowing for improved monitoring of material.
Further information about the Amendment Act is available under the heading, Amendment of the Environment Protection Act 1993 – the Waste Reform Bill.