Climate change effects and weather-driven natural hazards such as flooding and bushfires are becoming more intense and more frequent.
Disaster events can cause the sudden generation of vast amounts of waste, potentially overwhelming community waste management systems and infrastructure, and resulting in significant public health concerns.
The inclusion of disaster waste management in the State Emergency Management Plan recognises the importance of effective planning for waste arising from disaster events.
Since 2019, Green Industries SA (GISA) has been the functional lead for disaster waste management under the State Emergency Management Plan, providing critical support for planning and undertaking the safe clean-up of waste arising from a disaster.
Crucially, GISA also understands how the circular economy can be leveraged for resilient rebuilding following a disaster.
Local and global experience shows that developing a disaster waste management plan can mitigate the impacts of disaster waste and greatly improve recovery outcomes for affected communities through building capacity within individuals and organisations for undertaking waste management activities.
Without contingency planning, the volumes and nature of disaster debris have the potential to impede other disaster response and recovery activities and contribute to poor outcomes for human health and the environment.
GISA is committed to leading disaster waste management in South Australia and maintains the Disaster Waste Management Guidelines to offer practical guidance for managing waste arising from any disaster event.
The guidelines step through the process of designing and delivering a coordinated disaster waste management program and include technical guidance for managing specific high volume and problematic disaster waste streams.
GISA has twice been activated to manage coordinated clean-up programs following devastating disaster events – once following the Black Summer Bushfires of 2019–20 and again in response to the 2022–23 River Murray flooding event.
In both cases, ensuring the efficient and safe removal of debris to minimise any risk to public health and safety.
