AGY-3822 | Waste Recycling and Processing Corporation

Full description

The Waste Recycling and Processing Corporation was formed as a State Owned Corporation by the Waste Recycling and Processing Corporatisation Act 2001 (Act No.59, 2001). (1)

The objectives of the Corporation were as follows:
To be a successful business and, to this end
(1) operate at least as efficiently as any comparable businesses, and
(2) to maximise the net worth of the State’s investment in it, and
(3) to exhibit a sense of social responsibility by having regard to the interests of the community in which it operates
to protect the environment by conducting its operations in compliance with the principles of ecologically sustainable development contained in section 6(2) of the Protection of the Environment Administration Act, 1991;
to exhibit a sense of responsibility towards regional development and decentralisation in the way in which it operates;
to provide and manage efficient, safe and reliable waste facilities, secondary resource facilities and related facilities;
to be an efficient and responsible provider of waste management services, secondary resource recovery services and related services;
to minimise any adverse health and environmental impacts of its activities and services relating to waste management and secondary resource recovery. (2)

The functions of the Corporation were as follows:
To establish, maintain and operate waste facilities, secondary resource facilities and related facilities; and
To conduct businesses or provide services relating to waste, and secondary resource recovery, and
To provide waste management services and related services, and
To research, develop and implement alternative technologies for managing waste, and
To trade in waste and secondary resources.

In addition to these functions to Corporation could provide facilities or services that were ancillary or incidental to its principal functions and conduct any business or provide any service (whether or not related to its principal functions) that it considered would further its objectives.

In exercising its functions the Corporation was required to endeavour to achieve world's best practice in waste management and to act in accordance with the principles of ecologically sustainable development. (3)

The Corporation was to be managed by a Board of Directors. The Board consisted of the following:
One director appointed by the voting shareholders on the recommendation of a selection Committee comprising two persons nominated by the Minister and two persons nominated by the Labour Council of New South Wales. The person selection was to be from a list of three persons proposed by the Labour Council;
Between three and six other Directors pointed by the voting shareholders after consultation with the Minister. One of these Directors was appointed Chairman in his instrument of appointment.
The Chief Executive Officer was eligible for appointment to the Board. The Board was responsible to the voting shareholders who could remove a Director at a convened meeting of the shareholders. (4)

The Chief Executive Officer was appointed by the Board following consultation with the Minister and the voting shareholders. The Board determined the salary and working conditions of the Chief Executive Officer. If necessary the Board could also appoint an acting Chief Executive Officer. (5)

The Waste Recycling and Processing Service was dissolved but the Waste Recycling and Processing Corporation was the same legal entity and the general assets, rights and liabilities of the Service were transferred to the Corporation. However, the special assets, rights and responsibilities of the Service could be transferred to the Ministerial Holding Corporation or other person acting on behalf of the State prior to the dissolution of the service by the Minister with the concurrence of the Treasurer. (6)

The Act was proclaimed to commence on 1 September 2001. (7) The administrative structure of the Corporation comprised the following branches - New Technologies; Solid Waste; Liquid Treatment; Business Development and Local Government Services; Corporate Affairs; Finance; Information Services and Human Resources. Solid Waste and materials recycling were both contracted to the private sector. (8)

Since its inception, the Corporation had traded as Waste Service NSW, a name its predecessors had been using since March 1992. (9) However, on 21 March 2005, the Corporation changed its trading name to WSN Environmental Solutions. (10)

In February 2011 WSN was sold to a private company, SITA Environmental Solutions. As part of the arrangements, and effective from 31 January 2011, various existing assets, rights and liabilities of the former WSN were vested in the Waste Assets Management Corporation (WAMC). (11) WAMC was a statutory corporation created under the Waste Recycling and Processing Corporation (Authorised Transaction) Act 2010, which, apart from Section 30, commenced on 23 March 2010. (12) On 3 March 2011, a proclamation under this Act actuated Section 30, formally repealing the Waste Recycling and Processing Corporation Act 2001 and removing all reference to the Waste Recycling and Processing Corporation from the State Owned Corporations Act 1989. (13)

Endnotes
1. Waste Recycling and Processing Corporatisation Act 2001 s.4.
2. Ibid. s.5.
3. Ibid. s.6.
4. Ibid. s.7.
5. Ibid s. 8-9.
6. Ibid. s. 11-14 .
7. NSW Government Gazette No.132, 31 August 2001 p.6567.
8. Waste Service NSW annual report for the year ended 30 June 2002, p.8.
9. AG/1148.
10.WSN Environmental Solutions Annual Report 2006-07, p.3.
11.Department of Finance and Services, Annual Report 2010-11, p.64.
12.Waste Recycling and Processing Corporation (Authorised Transaction) Act 2010 (Act No. 8, 2010), s.16.
13.Commencement Proclamation under the Waste Recycling and Processing Corporation (Authorised Transaction) Act 2010 (Act No.8, 2010), published NSW Legislation Website (2011-123), 3 March 2011.