You must have a permit to export, import or transit hazardous waste.
Follow these steps to prepare and apply for a permit.
Complete other requirements
You must obtain all relevant permits, licences, authorisations, clearances and other permissions before you transport waste across an international boundary. These may include, but are not limited to:
- consent from all countries involved in moving the hazardous waste
- facility and transport authorities from state and territory environmental regulators
- a biosecurity permit, if the imported waste presents a biosecurity risk
- exports of hazardous glass, plastics, tyres, paper or cardboard is also subject to the Recycling and Waste Reduction Act 2020.
Prepare your application
Before you apply, ensure you meet all requirements.
You must be covered by public liability insurance with a liability limit of at least AUD5 million. This is to cover:
- personal injury
- property damage
- remedying and/or cleaning up a potential incident event
- contamination or pollution caused by a “sudden and accidental” event.
You must show you have the financial capacity to meet the costs of complying. This can include the cost of taking back waste, if it’s found to be illegally trafficked or cannot be processed. You will be required to provide audited financial statements to assess your financial capacity.
You must have in place a contract, or a chain of contracts, that shows ownership and continuous control over the movement and disposal of the waste.
If you’re an exporter, you must also have a legal right to return hazardous waste to Australia if required.
You must show how the waste will be packaged and safely transported to comply with local and international laws.
You must prove that the facility processing the hazardous waste has the required authorisations, licenses and/or permits required by the country it’s in.
You must show that the hazardous waste is being recovered or disposed of in a way that manages risks to human health and the environment. This includes how any residual wastes are managed, such as emissions to land, air and water.
For all exports
Typically, we only grant permits to export hazardous waste when there is no capacity to process the waste in Australia.
Exports of hazardous waste for final disposal (for example, landfill or incineration) are only granted in exceptional circumstances.
Permit application fees
You will need to pay fees when you apply. The cost depends on the type of permit you need.
Seek advice before you pay the required fees. We can only refund permit fees in limited circumstances.
Fees - 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023
| Application type | Fee (AUD) |
|---|---|
| Transit permit | $5, 858 |
| Import permit | $7, 947 |
| Export permit - for operations which may lead to resource recovery, recycling, reclamation, direct re‑use or alternative uses (within the meaning of the Basel Convention) | $14, 204 |
| Export permit - for operations other than those which may lead to resource recovery, recycling, reclamation, direct re‑use or alternative uses (within the meaning of the Basel Convention) | $39, 284 |
| Transit permit - variation | $2, 516 |
| Import permit - variation | $2, 934 |
| Export permit - variation of export permit granted for operations which may lead to resource recovery, recycling, reclamation, direct re‑use or alternative uses (within the meaning of the Basel Convention) | $6, 693 |
| Export permit - variation of export permit granted for operations other than those which may lead to resource recovery, recycling, reclamation, direct re‑use or alternative uses (within the meaning of the Basel Convention) | $16, 720 |
| Levy | |
| Levy - flat rate charge on each new permit application | $5, 176 |
Apply online
Apply for a permit to import, export or transit hazardous waste using our Online Services portal.
Processing timeframes
To export or import to or from an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country where the waste is going for recovery operation, we will process your application within 40 days.
See a list of OECD countries on the Department of Foreign Affair and Trade website.
For all other applications, we will process your application within 60 days.
These timeframes can be extended. Authorities in other countries often take longer to provide their consent and this can also extend the time taken to process your application.