The WA government has an excess of expired COVID tests to destroy. Image source: freepik, via Freepik.
The WA Government is due to destroy an estimated 19 million expired COVID tests which will cost almost $4 million.
The process will involve locating all the unused tests, storing the tests in a warehouse, and destroying the expired tests in a sustainable manner.
Currently, the cost of storage is estimated to be $75,000 a month.
Nationals MP Martin Aldridge revealed the information, proceeding to question whether the procedure would be a worthwhile use of money. “These RATs are now waste, they cannot save lives anymore,” said Aldridge.
“My question is, is it a good use of taxpayers’ money to spend $4 million burning them, when the majority of them have gone into [regular household] waste streams?”
Government minister Sue Ellery countered Aldridge’s questions by explaining that the WA government was committed to finding sustainable solutions, stating they were “trying to do it in a way that does not just create landfill”.
“We could not predict at the time we started purchasing RATs exactly how many we would need, and indeed we knew we were competing with the world to get hold of RATs, so that we could keep people safe and our economy strong.
“So in the end when you weigh up the cost-benefit analysis, the answer is yes, it was a good use of taxpayers’ money.”
This was argued against by Auditor-General Caroline Spencer when she provided her report about the overall purchases of COVID tests at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
WA had purchased the most COVID tests per-person anywhere in Australia during the pandemic, despite early supply issues. This involved sending free COVID tests directly to households and creating pop-up distribution points.
Spencer described the program as lacking a “clear, considered, and coordinated plan”, explaining how an initial $3 million was spent on tests for health workers and returning travelers before escalating to $580 million overall.
The government plans to dispose of the COVID tests, also called rapid antigen tests (RATs), at the Kwinana waste-to-energy facility.
The Kwinana waste-to-energy facility is set to commence waste processing in July 2024 after delays in construction.
