Your voice matters. Have your say on how we administer Australia’s national environmental protection laws as we strive for continuous improvement. Complete this survey to help shape our priorities and inform how we provide our services and conduct our activities.
The survey will be open until 11:59pm AEST Thursday, 30 September 2026. If you have any questions, please contact: surveyhelp@nationalepa.gov.au
Complying with the law is not only a requirement, it’s in your best interest. Your business’s reputation depends on it. Exporting waste material consistent with the law can provide many benefits to your business.
We support and encourage compliance and respond to breaches of waste export laws.
Your exports will spend less time on the docks and you will avoid non-compliance penalties.
Secure more contracts with buyers who know you're compliant.
Compliant products and materials will strengthen your reputation and relationships with customers and government regulators.
Contribute to healthy communities and protecting the environment.
Australians want assurance that the material that goes in their recycling bins is reused.
Exporters of waste glass, plastics (including processed engineered fuel), tyres (including tyre-derived fuel) and paper need to know when we will start regulating their waste material.
The rules for the export of:
Read about Waste exports.
Make sure you always meet all the conditions of your licence and/or exemption.
You must let us know when:
Find out more about changes to your licence or business.
You must also let us know:
As soon as possible:
Always follow directions from an authorised officer or auditor when they conduct compliance activities such as audits, monitoring and investigations. Answer questions and provide documents, assistance and reasonable access to all facilities when requested.
Find out more in our approach to compliance.
You must make and keep detailed records about your exports.
We may audit your records at any time to ensure you are meeting your obligations. Find out more in our approach to compliance.
If you suspect someone is breaching waste export laws, you can report them to us.
We will assess all allegations to determine if we need to take further action. If you report a breach, we will hold your details in strict confidence.
To report a suspected regulated waste breach:
There is a range of enforcement actions we can take if you don't comply.
In deciding the enforcement action to take, we will consider:
In some cases, we may issue a warning instead of taking enforcement action.
We may suspend or revoke your export licence, for example:
We will give you notice of our intention to do this and outline the reasons why.
Usually, we will give you the option of providing a written statement showing why we shouldn’t revoke or suspend your licence. If we give you this option, you must provide the statement within 14 days of the notice.
If we revoke or suspend your licence, you can ask for our decision to be reviewed.
Under certain circumstances, we may vary an aspect/s of your licence without an application from you. We may do this, for example:
Usually, we will give you notice of the proposed change. The notice will:
We will email you when we have made a decision on the proposed variation. You will need to log into the WELD portal to read the details of the decision.
If we vary your licence, we will issue another licence with the updated details. The licence number will not change. If you do not agree with our decision to vary your licence, you can ask for it to be reviewed.
We may issue you with an infringement notice if, for example, you:
An injunction is a court order to stop you breaching, or to make you comply with, waste export laws.
If we issue an injunction, you must immediately stop the non-compliant conduct stated on the injunction.
We may also issue an interim injunction. This is a court order to stop you breaching, or make you comply with, waste export laws while awaiting the outcome of a trial.
An enforceable undertaking is a written agreement between us and a party who is not complying with waste export laws. We may use an enforceable undertaking instead of taking you to court. In agreeing to an undertaking, you commit to doing something or stop doing something to comply with the law.
Not complying with the agreed terms of an enforcement undertaking is a serious matter. We can apply to the courts to enforce the terms of the agreement.
We may pursue civil or criminal penalties in cases of serious non-compliance.
The most serious criminal breaches may incur a penalty of up to five years imprisonment or up to $82,500 or both for an individual and up to $412,500 for a corporation.
The most serious compliance breaches may incur a civil penalty of up to $165,000 for an individual and up to $825,000 for a corporation.