Planning & Approvals

MRA Consulting Group is proud to announce Naomi Mynott, who has joined our Planning and Approvals Team in Western Australia.

Of the 400 landfills (plus) in NSW only 20 are actively supervised as contaminated sites by the EPA.

As Food Organics Garden Organics (FOGO) collections are more widely introduced by councils, a uniform approach is required nationally.

Perth, Adelaide, all of Victoria and now all NSW households will have FOGO (Food Organics, Garden Organics) collections by 2030.

Resource recovery in Queensland has lagged other States for a long time because they have had no landfill levy and that has stifled investment.

The NSW EPA recently provided the Waste Advisory Group NSW with an update on the implementation of the Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy 2041 and the Waste Delivery Plan.

The NSW Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy 2041 has ambitious targets to achieve an 80% average recovery rate from all waste streams, triple the plastics recycling rate and halve the amount of organic waste sent to landfill by 2030. 

Australia generates 316,000 tonnes of HDPE plastic per year. Most is landfilled. If every MGB in Australia was required to be black, that alone would absorb 258,000 t of HDPE by adding 10.4kg of recycled content to every MGB at every home.

As of 1 July 2021 resource recovery facilities in Victoria are captured under new Environment Protection Regulations. Facilities that trigger the requirements must apply by October 2021 for a licence or permit or by 2 January 2022 if the activity needs a registration. If you do not make an application, you can no longer operate.

From 1 July 2021, all plastic exports will require a licence from the Commonwealth and mixed (unsorted) plastic exports are banned.

Federal Environment Minister Susan Ley supports standardised waste collection systems, including a common bin lid colour across Australia. We propose to also standardise the colour of the bin's body to maximise recycled plastic use.

The NSW Department of Planning, Infrastructure and Environment has recently released a series of draft measures aimed at reducing timeframes for State Significant Development Projects and improving the standards of environmental reporting.