18 July, 2019
From 1 July 2019, new e-waste restrictions apply in Victoria effectively prohibiting the disposal of electronic or electrical equipment to landfill.
What is e-waste?
E-Waste broadly includes any waste created from electronic or electrical equipment and includes anything that has a cord, battery or plug. This includes waste ranging from batteries to fridges.
Sustainability Victoria has released a non-exhaustive list of products that are considered to be e-waste, which can be viewed here.
Who will be impacted by the new restrictions?
The restrictions, imposed under the Waste Management Policy (E-Waste) (E-Waste Policy), apply to any individual or organisation that is involved in the generating, collecting, storing, handling, transporting or reprocessing, of e-waste. This means that the entire supply chain, both upstream and downstream, will be covered by the new requirements. The Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning's Policy Impact Assessment (DELWP Policy) provides the following examples of those covered by the E-Waste Policy for guidance:
- Generation – any type of organisation that uses electrical or electronic equipment. For example, post office outlets, fitness centres, administrative offices, medical centres, commercial kitchens or retailers.
- Collection/storage – e-waste recyclers, metal recyclers, material recovery facility operators, warehouse operators or retailer outlets offering take-back services.
- Transport – e-waste recyclers, waste management organisations and transport companies.
- Treatment – e-waste reproducers, metal recyclers and repair services.
- Disposal – landfill operators.
General requirement
The E-Waste Policy requires an individual or organisation involved in one or more of the above activities relating to e-waste to take all reasonable steps to eliminate risk to human health and the environment. This can include, but is not limited to, preventing the breakage or spillage of e-waste or the disposal of e-waste with a compliant e-waste service provider. Compliance with this general obligation could also include taking reasonable steps to:
- prevent e-waste being disposed of in landfill; and
- maximise recovery of e-waste production.
E-waste service providers
Under the E-Waste Policy there are also specific requirements imposed on e-waste service providers, which includes any organisation that accepts e-waste for collection, storage, handling, transport or reprocessing.
E-waste service providers must:
- take reasonable steps to minimise the duration e-waste is stored;
- when transporting e-waste, maintain information for each load transported; and
- when reprocessing e-waste:
- minimise the amount of residual waste;
- record information; and
- comply with the Product Stewardship Act 2011 (Cth) and Australian Standards.
Enforcement
It is acknowledged that organisations may take 12 to 24 months to reach full compliance with the new e-waste requirements. The Environment Protection Agency Victoria (EPA) will not initiate enforcement action until after 1 July 2020 and will work with organisations to assist them to become compliant in that time.
After this, the EPA will take enforcement action against a non-compliant organisation by:
- conducting inspections (both planned and random) of organisations' premises;
- issuing an administrative notice identifying the need to comply with the E-Waste Policy; and
- if still non-compliant, taking enforcement action for breach of notice.
For further information, please contact:
Ilona Millar, Partner, Baker & McKenzie
llona.millar@bakermckenzie.com
