The Queensland Government’s page on applying for a disposal permit.
When a disposal permit is needed
A disposal permit is needed to remove contaminated soil for treatment or disposal from land listed on the Environmental Management Register (EMR) or the Contaminated Land Register (CLR).
The register comes first, and the soil second: the requirement turns on whether the land is listed, and on the soil being removed from it for treatment or disposal.
The department's own preference is written onto the page: treating contaminated soil on site is considered best practice, and removing it for treatment or disposal off site should only happen when that option is not practicable.
The registers that decide it
- Environmental Management Register
- The page names it as one of the two registers whose listings put the permit requirement in play. Soil to be removed from EMR land for treatment or disposal needs the permit.
- Contaminated Land Register
- The second register named by the same rule. A listing on it has the same effect for this permit: the soil cannot leave for treatment or disposal without one.
The page names both registers in the same breath but does not set out how they differ; for anything beyond the permit requirement, its own route is the departmental guideline it points to.
That guideline, Disposal permit to remove, treat and dispose of contaminated soil, is the page's own next step for detail on when a permit is needed and how to apply.
The permit attaches to the soil's journey, not to the digging that freed it. On-site remediation sits outside this route, and the department treats it as the better practice of the two.
For a listed site, the permit is a precondition rather than a step within the works: it is needed before the soil leaves, and its conditions can bind the removal, the transport and the receiving end.
How the application is decided
On timing, the department is direct: it decides properly submitted applications within 10 business days.
On paperwork, the page names the form to complete: the Application form for a disposal permit for contaminated soil, ESR/2015/1832, formerly EM1015, returned with all required supporting information.
Written acceptance from the owner of the land where the soil is to be received must also be obtained.
There is no application fee for this permit.
A permit is issued for a specified duration and a specified volume of soil, and it may carry conditions about the removal, transport and treatment or disposal process.
One condition is structural: a permit cannot be amended. If the soil volume changes after approval, a new permit is required.
Where the soil goes
Where the soil goes is decided by the permit. The department issues disposal permits for removal to licensed waste disposal or treatment facilities that are able to receive the soil under the conditions of an environmental authority.
That receiving facility's gate is not the only one: written acceptance from the owner of the land where the soil will be received has to be obtained.
Money attaches to the disposal end.
A waste levy rate per tonne applies to contaminated soil disposed of at a waste disposal site, and where certain criteria can be met the soil may be eligible for an exemption from that levy.
The two applications can run together: a soil disposal permit and a waste levy exemption application can be made at the same time, and there is no need to wait for the permit to be issued first.
Who to ask
The permit is issued by the Queensland Government department that publishes the page linked above; its application form and its guideline are the route in, and the decision time is the department's own 10 business days.
The permit turns on the site's listing, the application on the form and the supporting information, and the receiving end on the facility's environmental authority and the land owner's written acceptance.