Including disaster waste management in the State Emergency Management Plan recognises that managing post-disaster debris impacts positively on an affected community’s resilience and recovery.
Global experience shows that developing a disaster waste management plan can greatly improve outcomes by building capacity within individuals and organisations to undertake waste management activities.
Without contingency planning, volumes of disaster debris have the potential to overwhelm a community’s waste and recycling infrastructure, impede disaster response and recovery activities, and contribute to poor outcomes for human health and the environment.
Since 2019, Green Industries SA (GISA) has been the functional lead for disaster waste management under the State Emergency Management Plan, providing advisory support on how to safely clean-up waste after a disaster. GISA also understands how the circular economy can be leveraged for resilient rebuilding following a disaster.
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.
