Resource Recovery

The establishment of the Waste and Resource Recovery Act 2022 (the Act), and Regulations was to encourage the diversion of waste from landfill, increase the recovery of resources from waste, establish the Waste and Resource Recovery Board, and impose a levy on waste received to landfill.

There are two types of waste facilities under the Act:

A Landfill Facility, which is a facility or place where waste is disposed of into or onto land, and

A Resource Recovery Facility (RRF), which is a facility or place where resource recovery takes place.

Class A Resource Recovery Facility - is a facility that receives or is likely to receive, for the purpose of resource recovery, 10,000 tonnes or more of waste per financial year.

Class B Resource Recovery Facility – is a facility that receives or is likely to receive for the purposes of resource recovery, more than 1,000 tonnes and fewer than 10,000 tonnes of waste per financial year.

The meaning of resource recovery for the purposes of the Act in relation to waste means the lawful:

Reuse of the waste,
Recycling of the waste,
Recovery of energy or other resources from the waste, or
Sorting or preparation of the waste for the purposes of the above.

The definition of waste can be found under the Environmental Management and Polution Control Act 1994 (EMPCA):

Waste means any discarded, rejected, unwanted, surplus or abandoned matter, whether of any value or not, intended - for recycling, reprocessing, recovery, reuse or purification by a seporate operation from that which produced the matter.

The operators of a Class A resource recovery facility where required to collect waste movement records (into and out of the facility) from 1 July 2022, and submit monthly returns within 30 working days of the end of the month. Class B resource recovery facilities were provided a two-year transition exemption and were not required to commence collecting movement data and reporting data until 1 July 2024.

List of regulated resource recovery facilities

Re-investment of the Levy into the Waste and Resource Recovery Sector

Funds raised from the landfill levy are being invested directly into the waste and resource recovery sector, supporting existing industry to reduce waste, and creating new jobs and business for Tasmanians. Funds will also be used to educate Tasmanians about reducing waste, working with the community to encourage recycling, reuse and repair and support programs that tackle littering and illegal dumping.

The Tasmanian Waste and Resource Recovery Board oversees the re-invesment of funds raised by the levy into Tasmanian business and community In addition, a number Industry Support Programs which aim to compensate for the costs of implementing the levy, are currently funded by the levy and managed by the Board.

More information about how the landfill levy funds will be reinvested to make Tasmania a place where nothing is wasted, can be found.

Action on Waste and Resource Recovery

Differences between Waste Transfer Stations and Resource Recovery Facilities

The fact sheet below has information to help explain the differences between waste transfer stations and resource recovery facilities:

Fact Sheet - Defining Waste Transfer Stations and Resource Recovery Facilities (PDF 226Kb)

Draft Data Recording and Reporting Guideline

A draft data recording and reporting guideline has been established. The guideline outlines the requirements for RRF operators and Landfill operators to comply with the Act regarding record-keeping and reporting of material movements at RRF.

The below draft guidelines were provided to key stakeholders for consultation and feedback was sought during June 2022.

"LINK TO GUIDELINE"