Publishing information about waste management
On 29 November 2022, the Chair of the Legal Affairs and Safety parliamentary committee tabled our report on ‘Publishing information about waste management’.
Waste management is a key component of good environmental management and climate change mitigation. As this touches the community at large, business and government, waste management is also a topic that attracts significant public interest.
The report identifies the information departments must publish about waste management, particularly under the Waste Reduction and Recycling Act 2011 and the Queensland Plan Act 2014. We assessed whether departments meet these requirements. We also considered whether the information is easy to find, easy to use, up to date and useful.
Overall, The Queensland Plan, the Queensland Waste Management and Resource Recovery Strategy and their associated reports are easy to find and use. However, the annual reports about the Waste Management and Resource Recovery Strategy are not published promptly, impeding community access to relevant, up to date information. They also miss some specific information required under the Waste Reduction and Recycling Act 2011.
Sixteen departments out of 20 have published a waste management plan on their websites. Four departments do not comply with their legislated obligations. All published plans are easy to read, but they are not necessarily up to date, easy to find or address the required inclusions.
The report makes recommendations to the lead agencies to improve the significance and timeliness of reports. There are also five recommendations to all departments about their waste reduction and recycling plans.
