Estimating transfers of NPI substances in waste
What are transfers?
Transfers have been defined in the NPI National Environment Protection Measure (NEPM) as the transport or movement, on-site or off-site, of substances to a mandatory reporting transfer destination or a voluntary reporting transfer destination. There are some exceptions and these include the transport or movement of substances contained in overburden, waste rock, uncontaminated soil, uncontaminated sediment, rock removed in construction or road building, or soil used for the capping of landfills.
A transfer is the transport or movement, on-site or off-site, of substances contained in waste for:
- containment
- destruction
- treatment that leads to:
- reuse, recycling or reprocessing
- purification or partial purification
- remediation, or
- immobilisation
- energy recovery.
The transfers listed above are divided into mandatory and voluntary reporting destinations. If waste is transported to a destination for containment or destruction, reporting is mandatory. Containment destinations include landfill, tailings storage facilities, underground injection or other long term purpose built waste storage structure. It also includes the transport or movement of substances contained in waste to a sewerage system. Reporting may be voluntary if transfers are to a destination for reuse, recycling, reprocessing, purification, partial purification, immobilisation, remediation or energy recovery.
Do you have to report?
You should determine your requirement to report a transfer when estimating your emissions. For each substance triggered in Category 1, Category 1b or Category 3 you are also required to report any transfer of that substance. See Section 2 of the NPI Guide and the Transfer Information Booklet for further details.
Note: Transfers of Category 2 substances are not reportable - but be aware that many Category 2 substances are also Category 1 or Category 1b substances.
How do you estimate transfers?
If your facility is required to report transfers, you need to estimate these by:
- identifying the waste streams on your facility
- identifying the destination of the waste stream
- determining if NPIsubstances are in the waste stream and whether any thresholds have been exceeded
- estimating the quantity of these NPI substances in the waste streams.
Further information on reporting transfers, including some helpful examples for ten industry sectors are within the Transfers information booklet.
What has to be reported?
Information required to be reported include:
- the type of transfer
- the NPIsubstance and quantities in the transfer
- estimation techniques used
- whether an on or off site transfer
When did transfers reporting start?
- For calendar year reporters the first transfer data collection period was from 1 January 2008 - 31 December 2008.
- For financial year reporters the first transfer data collection period was from 1 July 2008 - 30 June 2009.
- The first year of transfer data was published on the NPI website on 31 March 2010.
Further details are available in the NPI Guide, however you should also look at your industry's Emission Estimation Technique (EET) manual to assist in estimating your transfers. Please note, not all manuals have been updated to reflect the inclusion of reporting transfers. This is an ongoing task and will take time. If you do have any specific questions on transfers for your industry, please contact your local state or environment agency.
Further details
Further details on transfers can be found in documents for the variation to the NEPM in 2008.