Chapter 2

Background

Australia's waste is increasing in volume, complexity and toxicity[1]

2.1        According to the National Waste Report 2010 recycling and waste generation have both increased since 1990. In 2002–03, Australia produced 32.4 million tonnes of waste. In the period 2006–07, the amount of waste generated was 43.8 million tonnes, an increase of 35 per cent. It is projected that Australia will generate 81.1 million tonnes of waste in 2020–21, an increase of 150 per cent above 2002–03 levels.

2.2        According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) solid waste generation has risen at around six per cent per annum on average from an estimated 23 million tonnes in 1996–97.[2] In 2008, this committee noted in its report Management of Australia's waste streams that the rate of waste generation is occurring faster than annual GDP growth.[3]

2.3        Per capita, Australia generated around 2080 kg of waste in 2006–07, of which 1080 kg was recycled.

2.4        During this period 22.7 million tonnes, or 52 per cent, of Australia’s waste was recycled. Of this quantity:

• 42 per cent was from the construction and demolition waste stream;
• 36 per cent was from the commercial and industrial waste stream; and
• 22 per cent was from the municipal solid waste stream.

2.5        Of the total waste generated in Australia, 48 per cent was discarded to landfill in 2006–07.

2.6        The ABS has noted that associated with the large increase in the number of products available in Australia there has been an increase in waste diversity, toxicity and complexity over the past decades.[4] Waste generated today is markedly different from 50 years ago when motor vehicles, refrigerators and televisions were less common. Personal computers, mobile phones and compact fluorescent lamps have also entered the waste stream in recent decades. These goods are increasingly complex and not only contain materials that can be re-used but also contain hazardous substances.[5]

2.7        The estimated quantity of hazardous waste generated in Australia doubled between 2002 and 2006 to around 1.19 million tonnes per annum. An average of 30 000 tonnes of hazardous waste is exported from Australia annually.[6]

2.8        Televisions and computers provide a typical example of the growing challenges faced by the waste sector. According to a Regulatory Impact Statement prepared for the Environment Protection and Heritage Council (EPHC), during the period 2007–08, 138 000 tonnes of new televisions, computers and computer products were sold in Australia.[7] In the same year, 106 000 tonnes (16.8 million units) reached their end of life. It is estimated that 84 per cent (by weight) were sent to landfill, with only 10 per cent (by weight) being recycled.[8]

2.9        The rapid development of technology, shorter life-span of products and increasing ownership of electrical products will see more electronic goods presented as waste. For example the volume of televisions and computers reaching their end-of-life is expected to grow to 181 000 tonnes (44 million units) by 2027–28, an increase of 70 per cent since 2007–08.[9]

2.10      The Western Australian Local Government Association has succinctly stated the issue facing Australian governments:

Waste is no longer simple, cheap or easy to deal with. As waste volumes increase and complexity also increases, so does our understanding of the impacts of these wastes on the environment, society and the economy.[10]

Responsibility for waste policy in Australia

2.11      Currently in Australia waste policy and management is developed and implemented by all three tiers of government – Commonwealth, state and local government. According to the National Waste Policy: Less waste, more resources (National Waste Policy) the overarching policy and regulatory framework for waste in Australia derives from a range of sources:

...the Australian Constitution, international agreements, Commonwealth legislation, agreements of COAG, decisions of the Environment Protection and Heritage Council and other ministerial councils, and from multiple legislative instruments in each state and territory.[11]

2.12      Under the Constitution the management of waste is primarily the responsibility of the state and territory governments. State governments have typically delegated to local councils much of the day-to-day responsibility for domestic waste management services. The roles and responsibilities of local government depend on the regulatory framework of a particular state or territory and can vary significantly. Local government often assumes responsibility for providing household waste collection and recycling services and managing and operating landfill sites.

2.13      In submissions to this inquiry, local government representative bodies argued that councils are not properly funded to deal with the increasing volumes and complexity of the waste stream.[12] For example the Western Australian Local Government Association submitted that:

There needs to be a fundamental shift in how responsibility for waste management is assigned. The current assumption that Local Government will continue to provide services for all [end-of-life] products is not sustainable.[13]

Australia's international obligations and current Commonwealth legislative framework

2.14      The Australian government is responsible for ensuring that Australia's international obligations are met, whether through measures implemented by the Commonwealth or through measures implemented by the states.

2.15      The Australian government's role and overarching responsibilities flow from a suite of international agreements and apply to 'hazardous substances, wastes, persistent organic pollutants, ozone depleting substances and synthetic greenhouse gases and climate change'.[14]

2.16      The two most relevant international agreements that concern product stewardship are the Basel Convention on Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal (the Basel Convention) and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (the Stockholm Convention).[15]

2.17      Australia must also be ready to deal with changing international requirements. Currently the United Nations Environment Programme is developing a legally binding instrument on mercury to seek to reduce its use, to encourage the use of alternatives and to ensure that mercury is made safe at end-of-life.[16]

2.18      In order to comply with these international treaties the Australian Government has passed several pieces of legislation:

• the Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1989 which governs the import and export of hazardous waste to and from Australia;
• the Industrial Chemicals (Notification and Assessment) Act 1989 which requires the notification and assessment of industrial, agricultural and veterinary chemicals;
• the Environment Protection (Sea Dumping) Act 1981, Protection of the Sea (Prevention of Pollution from Ships) Act 1983 and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 which prohibits dumping and incineration of waste at sea; and
• the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Act 1989 which restricts ozone depleting substances.

2.19      The state and territory governments have also enacted legislative and policy instruments to protect the environment and conserve natural resources.[17]

The National Waste Policy

2.20      In 2008 the committee's predecessor undertook a wide ranging review of national waste policy. At that time the committee observed the absence of a national waste policy, stating that 'over the past two decades the only national waste minimisation strategy that has been established was the National Waste Minimisation and Recycling Strategy' of 1992.[18]

2.21      During that inquiry the committee heard evidence that in the absence of a national approach, the states have tended to develop waste management policies in an uncoordinated and at times inconsistent fashion.[19]

2.22       One of the committee's key recommendations was for the development of a national resource efficiency strategy which:

...should seek consistent policies between the states and adopt a principles-based approach; including sustainability, the waste hierarchy, extended producer responsibility [also known as product stewardship] and user pays cost reflective pricing as guiding principles.[20]

2.23      A major development occurred in November 2009, when all Australian governments through the Environment Protection and Heritage Council (EPHC) agreed to a new national policy on waste and resource recovery.[21] The National Waste Policy: Less waste, more resources sets the direction for Australia for the next 10 years 'towards producing less waste for disposal and managing waste as a resource to deliver economic, environmental and social benefits'.[22]

2.24      The National Waste Policy also acknowledges the potential to achieve wider community objectives through waste management. Accordingly the policy 'aims to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve energy conservation, raise water efficiency and enhance productivity of the land'.[23]

2.25      The policy has been designed to ensure that all wastes, including hazardous wastes, will be managed consistent with Australia's international obligations.

2.26      The National Waste Policy lists six key directions for the period to 2020 to ensure that Australia manages its waste in 'an environmentally safe, scientific and sound manner and reduce the amount per capita of waste disposed'.[24] Sixteen priority strategies that would benefit from a national or coordinated approach were developed to meet these key directions.[25]

2.27      In July 2010, the EPHC endorsed the National Waste Policy Implementation Plan (the implementation plan) which presents the aims, key directions and strategies of the National Waste Policy and prioritises when they will be implemented.[26] The implementation plan also sets out governance and resourcing arrangements and sets key milestones for the first five years of the policy and arrangements for monitoring progress and performance.

Product stewardship as part of the National Waste Policy

2.28      The first key direction identified in the National Waste Policy is the need for Australian governments to share responsibility for:

...reducing the environmental, health and safety footprint of manufactured goods and materials across the manufacture-supply-consumption chain and at end of life.[27]

2.29      In response to this key direction, 'Priority Strategy 1' was developed:

The Australian Government with the support of state and territory governments, will establish a national framework underpinned by legislation to support voluntary, co-regulatory and regulatory product stewardship and extended producer responsibility schemes to provide for the impacts of a product being responsibly managed during and at end of life.[28]

2.30      Under Priority Strategy 1 (the Product Stewardship Priority Strategy) the Australian government is responsible for the resourcing, establishment and administration of the Commonwealth legislative framework. The Australian government is also required to consult with state and territory governments through the EPHC on the design of the national product stewardship legislation.[29]

2.31      State and territory governments are to assist with intelligence gathering as part of existing policy, program and regulatory operations. State and territory governments can also continue to support local product stewardship action.[30]

2.32      The Product Stewardship Priority Strategy also provides for the operation of the co-regulatory and regulatory product stewardship schemes to be funded by the sector subject to regulation. Accreditation of voluntary schemes is to occur on cost recovered basis through a fee for service.[31]

2.33      According to the timetable specified in the Implementation Plan, the Commonwealth national product stewardship framework legislation is to be enacted in 2011.[32]

2.34      Under the implementation plan the Australian Government is also to develop and implement a national television and computer product stewardship scheme in 2011.[33] This scheme will be the first to be implemented under the framework established by this bill. The committee notes that the Commonwealth environment department is currently conducting a consultation process on the regulatory underpinnings of such a scheme.[34]

Definition of product stewardship

2.35      The explanatory memorandum explains that product stewardship:

...involves shared responsibility for reducing the environmental health and safety footprint of manufactured goods and materials across the life cycle of a product.[35]

2.36      For the purpose of consulting on provisions of the bill, product stewardship was defined in the Product Stewardship Legislation Consultation Paper as:

All parties in the production-supply-consumption chain ensuring that products are responsibly managed during and at the end of life and...where Extended Producer Responsibility is the term applied where the producer or importer is responsible for the product during and at the end-of-life.[36]

Outline of the bill

2.37      The Product Stewardship Bill 2011 (the bill) establishes a national framework to more effectively manage the environmental, health and safety impacts of selected products, and in particular those impacts associated with the disposal of products.  This is done through either a voluntary, co-regulatory or mandatory approach.[37]

2.38      The voluntary provisions of the bill essentially establish a mechanism to encourage and recognise product stewardship without the need to regulate, and to provide assurance to the community that a voluntary product stewardship scheme is operating to achieve its stated outcomes.[38] The voluntary provisions would provide for the accreditation of voluntary product stewardship arrangements designed to further the objects of the Act.[39] They also would authorise the use of product stewardship logos in connection with such arrangements.

2.39      On the other hand, a co-regulatory scheme would involve a combination of government regulation and industry action.[40] Some manufacturers, importers, distributors and users of products, who have been specified in the regulations, would be required to be part of a co-regulatory scheme. The regulations would set minimum outcomes and operational requirements that are to be met in relation to a class of products, with industry ensuring that the outcomes and requirements are achieved.

2.40      The third type of scheme provided for under the bill is for mandatory product stewardship which would require some persons to take, or not to take, specified action in relation to products.[41] These requirements might include restricting the manufacture or import of products, labelling requirements and requirements relating to the treating or disposing of products. The bill also specifies penalties that may be imposed for not complying with mandatory regulations.[42]

2.41      Before an obligation can be imposed through regulation, the minister has to be satisfied that:

• the objects of the Act are being met; and
• two or more of the six product stewardship criteria are satisfied.

2.42      In addition, as a matter of government policy, a regulatory impact assessment of the proposed regulations would also have to be satisfied.[43]

Committee comment

2.43      The committee supports the aims of the National Waste Policy to produce less waste for disposal and to manage waste as a resource to deliver economic, environmental and social benefits. Product stewardship is an important strategy to help achieve these aims by ensuring that products are responsibly managed throughout their life cycle.

2.44      The committee supports the unified approach adopted by the Environment Protection and Heritage Council to establish national product stewardship legislation. The lead taken by the Commonwealth government in creating a national legislative framework will help to reduce the inefficiencies associated with multiple state and territory based arrangements. The proposed framework will also help Australia meet its international obligations.

2.45      The committee acknowledges the timeframe set out in the National Waste Policy Implementation Plan for national product stewardship legislation to be in place by 2011.

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