ENVIRONMENTAL OFFENCES AND PENALTIES ACT 1989 - SECT 4 Definitions

This legislation has been repealed.

ENVIRONMENTAL OFFENCES AND PENALTIES ACT 1989 - SECT 4

4 Definitions

(1) In this Act:


"environment" includes all aspects of the surroundings of human beings, including:

(a) the physical factors of those surroundings, such as the land, the waters and the atmosphere, and

(b) the biological factors of those surroundings, such as the animals, plants and other forms of life, and

(c) the aesthetic factors of those surroundings, such as their appearance, sounds, smells, tastes and textures.

"harm" , in relation to the environment, includes any direct or indirect alteration of the environment that has the effect of degrading the environment and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, includes:

(a) any act or omission that results in air pollution, within the meaning of the Clean Air Act 1961 , and

(b) any act or omission that results in the pollution of any waters, within the meaning of the Clean Waters Act 1970 .

"pollution control authority" means:

(a) a licence granted by the Environment Protection Authority in respect of:

(i) scheduled premises or scheduled equipment within the meaning of the Clean Air Act 1961 , or

(ii) the pollution of waters within the meaning of the Clean Waters Act 1970 , or

(iii) a drain which discharges or is likely to be used for discharging any pollutants into any classified waters within the meaning of the Clean Waters Act 1970 , or

(b) a licence granted under the Waste Minimisation and Management Act 1995 , or

(c) a licence granted under section 28 of the Environmentally Hazardous Chemicals Act 1985 , or

(d) a prescribed licence, permission or other authority given under the Water Board Act 1987 , the Water Supply Authorities Act 1987 , the Hunter Water Board Act 1988 or a regulation made under any of those Acts.

"public authority" means a public or local authority constituted by or under an Act, a Government Department or a statutory body representing the Crown, and includes a person exercising functions on behalf of that authority, Department or body.


"restraining order" means an order made under section 16.


"waste" means:

(a) effluent, being any matter or thing, whether solid or liquid or a combination of solids and liquids, which is of a kind that may be removed from a septic tank, septic closet, chemical closet, sullage pit or grease trap, or from any holding tank or other container forming part of or used in connection with a septic tank, septic closet, chemical closet, sullage pit or grease trap, or

(b) trade waste, being any matter or thing, whether solid, gaseous or liquid or a combination of solids, gases and liquids (or any of them), which is of a kind that comprises refuse from any industrial, chemical, trade or business process or operation, including any building or demolition work, or

(c) garbage, being all refuse other than trade waste and effluent, and includes waste within the meaning of the Waste Minimisation and Management Act 1995 .

(2) In this Act, a reference to the disposal of waste includes a reference to the causing or permitting of the disposal of waste.

(3) For the purposes of this Act, a substance is not precluded from being waste merely because it may be reprocessed, re-used or recycled.

(4) In this Act:

(a) a reference to a function includes a reference to a power, authority and duty, and

(b) a reference to the exercise of a function includes, where the function is a duty, a reference to the performance of the duty.