The Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Strategy 2030 (waste strategy) includes a headline strategy to "implement local government waste plans, which align local government waste planning processes with the Waste Strategy".
Consistent with the Waste Strategy, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (department) has exercised its powers under section 40(4) of the Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Act 2007 (WARR Act), by written notice (CEO notice), to require certain local governments and regional councils to include a waste plan within their plan for the future.
All local governments and regional councils in the Perth and Peel regions and major regional centres (cities of Albany, Busselton, Bunbury, Greater Geraldton and Kalgoorlie-Boulder; and Bunbury-Harvey Regional Council) that provide waste services are required to prepare a waste plan outlining how waste services will be managed to achieve consistency with the waste strategy and protect public health and the environment.
To ensure consistency with the waste strategy, reviews of waste plans will take place following the review and release of the strategy approximately every five years.
CEO notices and important milestones
Two CEO notices have been issued to the relevant local governments and regional councils:
- The first notice, issued in November 2019, set out the requirements and timelines for waste plans and the CEO’s powers in relation to these.
- The second notice, issued in May 2020, revised the key deadlines for waste plans.
The following key milestones have been met:
- 31 March 2021 – council-approved waste plans were submitted to the CEO of our department.
- 1 October 2022 – the first annual reports, on the implementation of waste plans for the 2021–22 financial year, were submitted.
Annual reporting
The relevant local governments and regional councils are required to report on the implementation of their waste plan annually. Annual reports are due on 1 October each year.
Annual reports must be submitted via Waste Data Online. Further guidance is available (see below) on how to use Waste Data Online to complete and submit annual waste plan reports.
Guidance
The following resources can assist with the development of annual waste plan reports:
- Waste Data Online first-time users (Waste plans)
- Waste Data Online landing pages
- Waste Data Online user roles and report status (Waste plans)
- Waste plan annual reporting
- Waste Data Online – Waste plan reporting training
The following documents can assist in the preparation of waste plans:
Consultation
We concluded a 12-week consultation period on the waste plans resource kit (consisting of a guidance document, templates and a self-assessment checklist) in September 2019. The purpose of the consultation was to seek input on how these resources might be improved to better assist local governments and regional councils in preparing their waste plans and annual reports.
The response to feedback is included in the following documents:
- For feedback received in workshops and webinars: Local government waste plans – Consultation sessions outcomes report
- For feedback received via written submissions: Local government waste plans resource kit - Consultation summary report.
Enquiries
Please email any queries to wasteplans@dwer.wa.gov.au or phone 08 6364 7000.
