Background

WasteTRACK was developed as an initiative from the liquid waste industry.  In 2004 the Ministry for the Environment (MfE), in partnership with what is now Water NZ, and the Liquid Waste Contractors Special Interest Group, began scoping the requirements of a waste tracking system for New Zealand. The Controlled Waste Tracking System, developed by the Department of Environment and Conservation in Western Australia (now Department of Environmental Regulation), was identified as the most appropriate system for application in New Zealand. 

In May 2005 a trial of a modified version of the tracking system, called WasteTRACK, began. Following the successful trial the MfE officially implemented WasteTRACK in March 2006. 

WasteTRACK was administered under contract to MfE until July 2015. At that stage MfE decided WasteTRACK was not meeting their needs.  New Zealand Trade and Industrial Waters Forum (NZTIWF) requested and were given the rights to run WasteTRACK. 

Since 1 July  2015 WasteTRACK has been run as user pays.  Initially paid for by just the councils (territorial local authorities) who supported the system and from July 2017 liquid waste companies have been charged for each tracking form created in the WasteTRACK systems. 

What Does it Do?

The objectives of WasteTRACK are:

• To ensure the safe transportation of liquid and hazardous waste to an approved treatment/disposal facility
• To monitor and track liquid and hazardous waste to prevent unauthorised discharge into the environment
• To collate information to assist central and local government in identifying priority waste management issues at a local and national level
• To provide an even and competitive system for companies in the waste management industry

WasteTRACK has been developed to ensure that it meets these requirements by;

• Requiring waste treatment and disposal locations to be approved prior to being entered into the tracking system
• The tracking system allows regulators to monitor the waste transporters that are entered into the system.  This reduces regulators time as they can focus on those businesses that are not using WasteTRACK
• The information within WasteTRACK can be extracted via reports to assist with waste management and business planning
• By requiring all contractors to use WasteTRACK and meet the same standard the industry will operate on a level playing field