2017
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About this document
National Australian data on hazardous waste is required for several purposes, including annual reporting under the Basel Convention and periodic domestic reporting. Intrastate movements of hazardous waste are substantial, and there is a need for an Australia-wide understanding of the sources, types and fates of hazardous wastes and of the availability of infrastructure to deal with them. The Basel Convention also contains obligations regarding domestic management of hazardous waste, as well as data and reporting.
For national reporting purposes, the Australian Government relies on data collected and submitted by the states and territories, which have legislative responsibilities for wastes generated in their jurisdiction. However, compiling a national data set is not straightforward due to gaps and disparities in state and territory systems for collecting, collating and reporting hazardous waste data. These gaps and disparities reflect the differing jurisdictional policy, regulation and licences for controlling hazardous waste.
This national standard for hazardous waste data and reporting is intended to help alleviate some of the data collation difficulties and also diminish the differences between regulatory systems, reducing costs and providing more certainty for regulators and businesses. The standard guides data management systems and processes and, where the guidance differs from the current system in a state and territory, represents a reference for opportunistic and voluntary adoption where convenient.