Queensland

Queensland's waste tracking legislation regulates the transport of environmentally significant waste. Trackable wastes are regulated wastes described as commercial or industrial in source or nature. Schedule 11 of the Environmental Protection Regulation 2019 lists specific, trackable waste and its codes.

Waste generators, transporters, and receivers have specific obligations when handling regulated and trackable waste to ensure the waste is appropriately transported and managed and does not cause environmental harm. Waste tracking documentation must be completed for each movement of trackable waste, with details submitted to the department.

Interstate trackable waste

The Department of Environment, Science and Innovation assesses potential movements of trackable waste into Queensland from other Australian states or territories using an application process for a consignment number.

This process ensures that any trackable waste sent into Queensland is transported to an appropriately licensed facility to receive, treat, process and or dispose of the waste. Where approved, this consignment number must be referenced on all waste tracking documentation.

Most trackable waste (95%) enters Queensland from New South Wales. The second significant source of trackable waste is the Northern Territory, although this represents only 2% of overall movement volume.

In the past four years, the largest waste groups included:

• oils and hydrocarbons category (57%, four-year average), which remain consistently large in volume and increase each year.
• putrescible/organic waste (14%, four-year average), which escalated between 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 but has since returned to a more consistent level.

All other waste categories exhibit a normal extent of fluctuation and do not demonstrate any significant or specific trend.