All prescribed industrial wastes (PIW) intended for landfill disposal must be classified into one of three categories: category A (highest hazard), category B and category C (lowest hazard). EPA reports annually on the rates of manufacturing waste, contaminated soils and asbestos disposed to landfill.
PIW disposal rates
EPA Victoria has been supporting industry in Accelerating reductions in prescribed industrial waste (publication 1122) in the production and disposal of PIW through regulation changes and cost incentives such as the HazWaste Fund.
In order to track industry’s progress on reducing waste, EPA reports monthly on quantities of category B and C manufacturing waste disposed to landfill.
EPA also reports quarterly on quantities of category B and C contaminated soil and asbestos waste disposed to landfill.
PIW disposal annual trends
From 2000 to 2007 annual trends in the disposal of manufacturing waste, contaminated soil and asbestos to landfill were reported by calendar year.
The introduction of the hazard classification system in July 2007 has changed the way PIW annual trends are reported. This is in order to detail the quantity of manufacturing waste and contaminated soil disposed to landfill in each of the hazard categories A, B and C.
All the information presented in the above documents is obtained through EPA’s transport certificate system. This system ensures that waste disposed to landfills is accompanied by a certificate which specifies the type and quantity of waste.
In 1999 most of the quantities written on certificates were estimates of the volume (cubic metres) of waste in the truck. Over the past several years there has been a transition to the use of weighbridge weights (in kilograms) as this provides a more objective, verifiable quantity. The older certificates with a quantity in cubic metres have been converted to kilograms assuming that 1 cubic metre = 1000 kilograms or 1 tonne. This is a reasonable estimate for wastes such as contaminated soils, but could overestimate the weight of light, bulky wastes such as plastic containers with chemical residues.
Read next
Landfill guidance for operators and councils
This page was copied from EPA's old website. It was last updated on 11 June 2015.
Reviewed 1 December 2021
