Hazardous waste poses significant risks to public health, community safety and the environment if it is not managed, transported, treated and disposed of appropriately. 

The NSW Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has responsibility for regulating the use and disposal of waste that may be hazardous or potentially harmful to human health or the environment, such as hazardous chemicals, asbestos waste, construction and demolition waste. In New South Wales, hazardous waste is primarily regulated under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 and associated regulatory instruments.

This audit will assess whether the NSW EPA effectively regulates hazardous waste to deliver its legislative objective to reduce the risk of harm to human health and to the environment.

The audit will consider activities including: 

• The EPA’s governance and oversight of the regulation of hazardous waste
• The EPA's strategic framework to regulate hazardous waste
• The EPA’s regulatory action to reduce risk of harm and respond to incidents relating to hazardous waste.

If you have experiences or views relevant to the audit scope, you can share them with the NSW Audit Office. This can be done anonymously if you wish. Please note that contributions will close at midnight on 6 December 2026.

You can contribute to this audit through the 'Contribute to this audit' button in the left-hand menu, the comment icon at the top right on mobile, or through this link.

If you would like to make a submission to the audit, please consider the following targeted questions:  

1. What is your experience of the information available to understand your obligations for the management of hazardous waste? This may include information to support activities at any stage of the waste lifecycle. Please provide any examples to help us understand where the available information is sufficient, or where additional information may be of benefit. 
2. What is your experience of the NSW EPA’s approach to conducting investigations on matters relevant to hazardous waste? Please provide any examples to help us understand what has worked well and what could be improved.

We may use your contribution to identify key themes, risks or issues, which may then be further examined during the audit. We may also include short extracts from submissions in our audit report, where appropriate. If we do this, we will not identify the person or organisation that provided the feedback.

We will not publish submissions on our website or include information that identifies you without your consent. We will not share feedback provided to us with any other organisation or person outside of the NSW Audit Office.

In specific circumstances the Audit Office has certain reporting obligations for matters relating to wrongdoing in the public sector that come to our attention. For more information on our confidentiality and reporting obligations for submissions, please visit Our confidentiality and reporting obligations for contributions page.

However, please note:

• We will not examine individual matters, nor can we investigate all issues or concerns raised. Please see the contact details listed below for relevant contacts. In general, the audit team will look for supporting evidence from other sources (such as documentation, data and audit interviews). See contact details below for organisations that may be able to assist with individual matters.
• We will consider all feedback, but we may not contact you to discuss your submission.
• We are not able to answer questions or provide information we have collected during the audit (see section 38 of the Government Sector Audit Act 1983).
• Performance audits focus on assessing whether public money is spent efficiently, effectively, economically and in compliance with the law. The Auditor-General is not permitted to question the merits of government policy objectives (see subsection 27B(6) of the Government Sector Audit Act).
• Please visit the Performance audit guide for audited entities (including non-public sector entities) for more information on how we undertake performance audits.

The Audit Office is required by section 38 of the Government Sector Audit Act 1983 to keep information obtained during an audit confidential and the Audit Office takes its responsibilities under these sections very seriously. 

All information that the Audit Office receives, and working papers that the Audit Office creates during an audit, are classed as excluded information in Schedule 2 of the Government Information (Public Sector) Act 2009 (GIPA Act). An access application under the GIPA Act cannot be made for excluded information.

If you have questions or comments about individual matters, you can:

• Contact the NSW Environment Protection Authority through their website
• Make a complaint about a NSW government agency to the NSW Ombudsman online or by calling 1800 451 524
• make a complaint about corruption to the Independent Commission Against Corruption online or by calling 02 8281 5999