What Is Considered Hazardous Waste?

In Victoria the EPA regulate what is called Prescribed Industrial Waste under the Environment Protection Act of 1970. All transport movements must accompany a valid Waste Transport certificate and waste material must be disposed of at an EPA licenced facility. This system was designed to regulate the industry and to prevent loads from being illegally dumped. Technically speaking any waste material that is wet must be considered Category A which means it must be transported via vacuum trucks to the appropriate facility and cannot be disposed of at a landfill. Currently there are some exemptions, sewage or septic waste is not prescribed waste and therefore does not require a Waste Transport Certificate, Hydro Excavation/NDD and Drill Muds are also non classified and do not require a certificate although they must be handled as per the EPA Drill Mud Classification. Hazardous waste is generally waste materials that are either acidic or caustic in nature, flammables or solvents, pesticides and hydrocarbon based wastes can be classed as hazardous. The EPA classifications are similar to the Dangerous Goods Act so chances are if the product was classed as dangerous to begin with it will be a hazardous waste product and will most certainly require a waste transport certificate. Toxic waste is really another term for hazardous waste, generally used by the media but not used by industry at all to describe waste materials. Non-hazardous waste is still generally prescribed in Victoria, which means as a producer of the waste you need to ensure the contractor you engage is appropriately licenced and has the correct waste transport certificates available to ensure your waste is being transported and disposed of properly