To promote environmental protection and human safety, Australia’s authorities have drawn up thorough guidelines on proper waste management. The guidelines include numerous components on waste classification, handling, treatment, recycling, and disposal to ensure that all the risks they present can be controlled effectively and efficiently, not only for the aforementioned intentions but also to uphold other crucial values.
Waste classes or classifications are based on the level of risk the wastes pose to the environment and human health. One of the six classifications established by authorities is restricted solid waste, which is the highest classification of solid waste determined by chemical assessment under the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC) Waste Classification Guidelines.
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But unlike other highly contaminated wastes, DECC has not issued a list of pre-classified items considered as Restricted Solid Waste. Typically, they are only correctly identified after carrying out the step-by-step guide provided by the DECCW. This process involves:
- Determination if the waste is “special waste” – meaning it contains asbestos or some other highly toxic element.
- Determination if the waste is indeed solid or not.
- Determination if waste is hazardous through chemical analysis; this analysis will measure the specific contaminant concentration (SCC) of all chemical elements in the waste, and the leachable concentration of the contaminant using the toxicity characteristics leaching procedure or TCLP. According to waste management professionals, if the threshold values for both SCC and TCLP tests are exceeded, the tested waste will be classified as “hazardous.” This step of the process is crucial because hazardous wastes require special handling and cannot be dumped at licensed landfills without undergoing appropriate treatment first, as required by the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (POEO) and its associated regulations.
- Finding out which licensed waste facility is allowed by the law to receive the specific class of waste; this is because not all licensed waste facilities can receive all classes of waste.
Aside from this process, restricted waste may also need to be monitored or tracked for it has specialised storage, handling, treatment and disposal requirements to meet, or are covered by a chemical control order or CCO, which is the prime regulatory tool under the Environmentally Hazardous Act 1985 and used by the EPA to limit the impact of chemicals present in the waste on the environment. Those who are dealing with waste that is covered by a CCO are demanded to meet all CCO requirements to avoid issues with authorities.
Australian Enviro Services are a professional waste management, contaminated soil remediation and asbestos removal company in Sydney.
We love hearing from people about their industrial and commercial environmental remediation projects: Talk to AES about your project.
