Exports of waste plastic

We regulate the export of waste plastic under the following legislation:

• Recycling and Waste Reduction Act 2020 (the RaWR Act)
• Recycling and Waste Reduction (Export—Waste Plastics) Rules 2021.

Plastic we regulate

Regulated waste plastic is plastic that is:

• discarded, rejected or left over from an industrial, commercial, domestic or other activity
• surplus to or a by-product of an industrial, commercial, domestic or other activity.

Plastic waste we don't regulate

You don’t need a waste export licence to export waste plastic if it is:

• exported solely for personal or domestic use, such as collectable soft drink bottle
• a plastic product made from waste plastic that is ready to be used again, such as soft drink bottles made from recycled plastic
• ordered to be exported under Part 3 of the Hazardous Waste Act (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1989 (Hazardous Waste Act),
• temporarily imported into Australia and then exported again in the same container with the same trade description
• plastic pellets made from waste plastic.

Hazardous waste plastic

Some waste plastic exports are controlled under the Hazardous Waste Act. This law gives effect to the Basel Convention (the Convention) in Australia.

Exports of waste plastic will require a hazardous waste export permit under the Hazardous Waste Act instead of a waste export licence under the RaWR Act if any of the following apply:

• it is not almost exclusively a single polymer or resin
• it is not almost free from contamination and other types of waste for example, glass, paper, metal and other polymers
• it is a halogenated polymer such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) (some exceptions apply)
• it contains constituents that make the waste plastic hazardous
• it is processed engineered fuel (PEF)
• it is not being exported for recycling
• any of the import or transit countries control the material under the Convention or related agreements. For example, certain countries have legislated contamination thresholds for imports of waste plastic.

The following types of waste plastic may contain chemicals or additives that require a hazardous waste export permit:

• plastics from e-waste, the automotive sector and building insulation (which may contain persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) chemicals such as brominated flame retardants)
• polystyrene (PS)
• polycarbonate (PC)
• acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS)

To determine whether your waste requires a hazardous waste export permit instead of waste export licence you should:

• read about Exporting, importing or transiting hazardous waste
• check import restrictions, such as contamination limits, with the Competent Authority of the import country and each transit country.

If you are unsure whether your waste is hazardous, contact the Hazardous Waste team at hazardous.waste@nationalepa.gov.au.

You don’t need a waste export licence to export waste plastic that is covered by a current hazardous waste export permit. See the:

Waste Plastic Exports List (PDF 183 KB)
Waste Plastic Exports List (DOCX 73 KB)

However, before making any exports you must email a completed notification form to exportwaste@nationalepa.gov.au:

Waste Plastic Exports List – notification of intention to export (PDF 162 KB) 
Waste Plastic Exports List – notification of intention to export (DOCX 48 KB)

Apply for a licence

Find out more about applying for a licence to export waste plastic:

• Apply for a licence
• Evidence to provide with your licence application – general
• Evidence to provide with your licence application – plastic

Contact us

WELD portal: if you have a WELD portal account, contact us via ‘My messages’

Email: exportwaste@nationalepa.gov.au

Phone: 1800 976 422