Planning & Approvals

Getting a planning approval for a waste facility is a long and excruciating process, especially in NSW. Now, the NSW Government is trying to combat the economic downturn brought about by COVID-19 by cutting down red-tape to speed up the planning process and stimulate the construction industry.

Everyone working in waste and recycling knows that getting a planning approval for a waste facility is a long and excruciating process, especially in NSW. Mike Ritchie looks at why this is the case and puts forward 3 ideas for NSW to get its mojo back.

The NSW EPA has developed a draft financial assurance policy and guideline to ensure that those responsible for pollution or contamination pay the costs of clean-up or remediation. MRA's submission on the Draft Policy and Draft Guideline is outlined in this post.

MRA’s planning team is glowing this Christmas with two development approvals granted in the last two weeks. Both approvals are for resource recovery facilities helping keep valuable materials out of landfill.

If you are dealing with asbestos waste in NSW, take notice. The NSW Court of Criminal Appeal has handed down a decision which confirms that any waste containing asbestos is asbestos waste endorsing all of the EPA interpretations of the POEO Act.

If you are dealing with recyclables and have $100 million annual revenue, the Act applies to you as of January 2019

The NSW EPA has had the power to seek the confiscation of profits gained from breaking environmental laws since the introduction of the POEO Act. However, it has now established a method for calculating Monetary Benefit Orders and is already using these to pursue cases in court.

With a Four Corners expose on the waste industry highlighting illegal dumping, it is a good time for Councils to consider how they might protect themselves from a charge of illegal dumping. In NSW, this is done by the s.143 notice.

By Mike Ritchie – Managing Director, MRA Consulting Group The problem of illegal dumping We all hear the horror stories of illegal landfill operations, cowboy waste operators dumping waste on land, the covert filling of gullies by unscrupulous transporters wanting to avoid landfill fees. These practices undermine the whole intent of our waste regulatory structure […]

MRA’s Planning and Approvals team is going from strength to strength. “With the introduction of the PoEO (Waste) Regulation changes in late 2014, we have seen a surge in clients seeking to ensure their regulatory house is in order. We have successfully completed a number of development and licence applications for new and existing waste […]

Important changes were recently introduced by the Protection of Environment Operations (Waste) Regulation 2014. These have considerably reduced the threshold levels for the holding of an Environmental Protection Licence (EPL) for certain waste activities e.g. processing, recovery and storage of waste. The new requirements mean that some existing waste businesses that were not previously required […]

The NSW EPA’s risk-based licensing system commences on 1 July 2015. The goal of Risk Based Licensing is to allocate the maximum EPA resources to those sites that pose the greatest environmental risk and less to those that do not. The EPA intends to conduct an environmental Risk Assessment for each licenced site in NSW […]