Follow-up audit of Publishing information about waste management
Today, the Chair of the Community Safety and Legal Affairs parliamentary committee tabled our report about the progress government departments have made in implementing the recommendations of our 2022 audit.
The Department of the Premier and Cabinet (DPC) and the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation (DESI) have leadership responsibilities to publish statewide strategies, plans and progress reports about waste management.
All departments are responsible for publishing their own waste reduction and recycling plan.
In 2022, we examined the legislative requirements in the Waste Reduction and Recycling Act 2011 (the Act) about publishing plans and strategies. We assessed the extent to which the departments met these requirements.
We made six recommendations to the lead departments to improve the significance and timeliness of reports. We also made five recommendations to all government departments about their waste reduction and recycling plans.
Over the last 18 months, the two lead departments responsible have done significant work to implement the recommendations from our 2022 audit. Five of six recommendations are fully implemented. One recommendation is in progress to full implementation.
Departments have improved their compliance with the publication requirements about their waste reduction and recycling plans. However, progress is not uniform, and more work is needed to ensure they all meet the legislative requirements.
The number of departments with a waste management plan on their websites has increased from 16 in 2022 to 18 in 2024. Surprisingly, two departments that previously published a waste reduction and recycling plan have since removed them from their websites.
