Develop a consistent approach to define and measure C&D waste across different jurisdictions

The construction industry in Australia has grown significantly in the past two decades in the wake of population growth, migration and expansion in the tertiary education industry. The growing population has necessitated extensive property development, better public transport and improved infrastructure. All these activities have resulted in a substantial growth in construction and demolition (C&D) waste. However, the amount of C&D waste generation and the way it is being dealt with differs across eight Australian jurisdictions. The main cause of different levels of C&D waste management in Australia is believed to be varied jurisdictional regulations governing C&D waste. These differences include using various definitions of waste and issues related to waste materials Therefore, this section of report aims to present the inconsistencies identified in C&D waste related regulations, standards and strategies being implemented in eight states and territories. This report also presents 13 key recommendations drawing on the review of existing literature and summarised in Section 2.7, with 5 of these considered to be of relevance to all Australian jurisdictions. The key nationwide reforms that are applicable to all study jurisdictions and particularly relate to the federal government's role in management of C&D waste include: 1) Align the classification used for reporting purposes and landfilling activities to remove inconsistencies; 2) Provide consistency in resource exemptions and separation between 'source' and 'waste', to remove confusion in the definition of general waste and C&D waste provided by National Waste Policy 2018 on exemption of re-use of materials from being waste; 3) Provide uniform reporting of waste data to better aggregate and report waste data. The first step is for the Commonwealth government to implement the 65 agreed improvements to the National Waste Report as established by Blue Environment's Improving national waste data and reporting report; 4) Establish a robust and consistent national waste data management system that is obliged to improve assessment of outcomes of projects, policies, laws and business transactions in different jurisdictions; 5) Provide consistent guidelines for waste auditing that are applicable throughout Australia. In accordance with the second objective of this research, these recommendations can assist waste regulators with developing a consistent approach to define and measure C&D waste across different jurisdictions.