MOOC: Auditing waste management

3.3. National laws

National legal instruments may be directed towards different stages of waste management (see Figure 16). How each stage is regulated varies greatly from country to country (EU countries have more similar regulations due to EU Directives) and some countries may have no regulations at all.

Figure 16. Stages of waste management

Source: National Audit Office of Estonia

To identify possible audit questions and to develop audit criteria it is important to establish which legal instruments are in place in your country. On a more general level and before scrutinizing the legal acts you may want to ask:

Is there a publicly organised waste collection system in your country? Bear in mind that collection systems can vary depending on the types of waste.
What kind of treatment systems have been developed in your country? You may think of recycling facilities, waste incineration plants and landfills.
Are the landfills owned by the state, municipalities or private owners? Is the development of landfills regulated by the government?

The following is an indicative list of regulatory measures that may be included in legal acts, depending on the stages of waste management:

Prevention of waste could be regulated via standards or economic instruments such as taxes, charges and subsidies.
Collection of waste could be regulated via direct regulations (e.g. prohibition on littering, prohibition on handing over waste to a person who does not hold a licence for transporting waste or obligations to separate waste), via the obligation for a municipality or regional body to arrange waste-collection activities, via deposit refund systems (e.g. for packaging waste) or via producer responsibility (e.g. electronic waste).
Transportation of waste could be regulated via technology standards or transportation licences.
Treatment (including recycling) of waste could be regulated via environmental quality standards, emission and technology standards (especially in the case of incineration), process standards, charges and taxes (e.g. in the case of incineration), subsidies and voluntary agreements.
Disposal or landfilling could be regulated via general planning procedures (e.g. in the case of planning a new landfilling site), prohibitions on landfilling certain types of waste, environmental quality standards and technology standards for landfills and charges or taxes (e.g. if the aim is to make landfilling costlier than recycling).

AUDIT CASE: SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL

Peru – Final disposal process of solid waste

SAI Peru published an audit report on the final disposal of solid waste by the provincial municipality of Huancayo in 2015. This audit was a compliance audit in which national legal instruments proved important sources for auditors upon establising audit criteria. For example, General Law of the Environment and General Solid Waste Law with its proceedings formed a basis for evaluating whether the final disposal was properly executed, whether the pollution levels of water resources near the dumping site were in compliance with environmental quality standards and whether the municipal authorities carried out requested actions to supervise solid waste management. Technical health regulations were a source of audit criteria particularly in connection with medical waste management (transport and final disposal), one of the riskiest pressure to water and soil if not properly treated. SAI Peru concluded as a result of the audit that the disposal of solid waste needed to be organised more properly to prevent it representing a grave risk to water, soil and human health. Closure of dumpsites not meeting technical criteria and exploitation of public funds for investing into solid waste treatment and landfill infrastructure were among recommendations to the auditees.

FULL CASE (pdf)

Tip for auditors

Possible questions to ask in an audit:

If policy targets are in place: Are relevant legal instruments in place and are responsible authorities clearly stated in order to support the achievement of the targets?
In the case of a performance audit: Are there any elements of national laws that prevent moving towards the targeted goals? If legal obligations are scattered between different legal acts, are these legal acts in coherence with one another?
If the delivery of results is divided between several authorities: Is the division of tasks clear and unambiguous and is there cooperation between different authorities?
If legal obligations are in place: Do legal acts include relevant sanctions and, if so, then are they enforced?

Thinking exercise

Which stage of waste management is most likely to need regulation in your country by the government and why?