Digestate

Learn about digestate, the law and how to meet the requirements for managing it.

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Digestate is waste from anaerobic digestion, an organic recovery process that generates biogas. Biogas is used to create heat and energy.

Digestate improves soil quality and reduces the need for fertilisers.

Digestate and the law

Digestate is pre-classified as reportable priority waste under Schedule 5 of the Environment Protection Regulations 2021.

Under the Environment Protection Act 2017, duties apply to managing, transporting and depositing reportable priority waste:

The general environmental duty also applies to anyone involved in managing digestate.

If digestate contaminates your land, the duty to manage contaminated land may apply.

A designation applies to low-risk digestate for composting or other secondary processing or use. The designation sets conditions where digestate can be reclassified as not reportable priority waste, and was published in the Victoria Government Gazette, Gazette Number G51 dated 21 December 2023 [PDF, 2.6MB].

If you meet the specifications and conditions of the designation:

  • our determination exempts you from needing a permission to supply, transport or receive it
  • you are exempt from the reportable priority waste duties.

All industrial waste and priority waste duties still apply.

If you do not meet the specifications and conditions of the designation, your digestate remains reportable priority waste. You need a permission from us to transport, receive and store digestate:

You must also use Waste Tracker when transporting digestate that is reportable priority waste.

Our role in digestate

We regulate the transport, storage, reuse and disposal of digestate.

We have issued a designation and a determination to reduce the burden of this regulation for digestate that's low risk.

Impact of digestate on your health

Harmful pathogens can develop during the process of microbial breakdown that creates digestate – for example, salmonella and E. coli. These microbial contaminants can cause disease in humans.

Other risks to human health from digestate include:

Manage digestate

We have produced the Safe production and use of digestate guidelines. This guidance provides information on:

  • the conditions of the designation and how to meet them
  • how to meet your duties and obligations
  • requirements for managing digestate.

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