Several regulations have been promulgated relating to norms and standards for undertaking a specific activity as defined by said national Norms and Standards. The purpose of these Norms and Standards is to provide a uniform approach to handling the specific activity, to ensure that best practice is in place in management the activity and to provide the minimum standards for the design and operations of these activities.

These Norms and Standards set out specific auditing requirements worded in similar fashion as below:

Internal Audits must be conducted, and the report must be compiled by the relevant auditor to report the findings of the audits, which must be made available to the external auditor. An independent external audit must be appointed to the audit the facility and must compile an audit report documenting the findings of the audit which must be submitted to the relevant authority. 

These Norms and Standards also set out specific requirements detailing the frequency for both internal and external audits, sets out requirements for the content of the audit report, and the submission of the audit reports to internal auditors or to the relevant state department. 

Currently, the following Norms and Standards relating to waste management are in effect and must be adhered to:

• National norms and standards for the storage of waste (29 November 2013)
• Norms and standards for the sorting, shredding, grinding, crushing, screening, or bailing of general waste (11 October 2017)
• National Norms and Standards for Organic Waste Composting (GN 561 in GG 44762 of 25 June 2021) – commenced from 11 February 2022 as per GN 1757 in GG 45907 of 11 February 2022.

To ensure environmental compliance is maintained to the legislated Norms and Standards, contact the ENVASS group today to ensure an auditor assesses your activities for overall compliance to these standards.