Interpretation of the definition and classification of
hazardous waste (Second Edition)
Introduction
This document, which has been produced by the Environment
Agency, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Northern
Ireland Environment and Heritage Service, provides technical
guidance for classifying hazardous waste. The document is intended
to be a reference document for all legislation where reference is
made to hazardous waste and its management, and provides guidance
in the assessment of waste to all involved in the production,
management, and control of hazardous waste.
The second edition of this guidance document was updated in
October 2006 to accommodate changes in the 8th edition of the
Approved Supply List. A further update of the document was carried
out in May 2008 to bring the assessment of the H14 (Ecotoxic)
category more in line with the Chemicals (Hazard Information and
Packaging for Supply) Regulations (CHIP). The major change was a
replacement of chapter 14. For convenience, a summary of the
changes made to the second document can be accessed
Background
European Council Directive 91/689/EEC (the Hazardous Waste
Directive, or HWD) sets the framework within Member States of the
European Community for provisions to control the movement of
arisings of hazardous wastes. The aim of the HWD is to provide a
precise and uniform European-wide definition of hazardous waste and
to ensure the correct management and regulation of such waste.
The HWD defines hazardous waste as wastes featuring on a list
drawn up by the European Commission, because they possess one or
more of the hazardous properties set out in the HWD.
In 1994, a comprehensive list of all wastes, hazardous or
otherwise, was produced pursuant to the Waste Framework Directive.
This list was known as the European Waste Catalogue (EWC 1994). The
EC then identified which of the wastes on EWC 1994 were deemed to
be hazardous, based on the properties set out in the HWD. The
resulting list of wastes was called the Hazardous Waste List (HWL)
and was the list defining hazardous waste required by the HWD.
The EWC 1994 and HWL have been updated, combined and
significantly extended. This resulted in a revised European Waste
Catalogue required for implementation by Member States on 1 Jan
2002 (EWC 2002). Therefore, this new list defines hazardous waste
as required by the HWD.
The definition of hazardous waste has considerable impact upon
industry in determining how their waste is regulated and affects
them in terms of charging, monitoring and inspection.
Significantly, the Landfill (Scotland) Regulations 2003 refer to
hazardous waste and defines it by reference to the HWD. Other
current legislation affected by the definition of hazardous waste
are:
- The Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations
2000 (the PPC Regulations); and Legislation regarding the
implementation of the Hazardous Waste Incineration Directive
(HWID); and
- Future legislation required to implement the End of Life
Vehicles Directive and the Waste Electrical and Electronic
Equipment Directive will require account to be taken of hazardous
waste issues.
Hazardous waste technical guidance aims to:
- Clarify the criteria for determining the classification of
wastes as hazardous or non-hazardous in accordance with the hazard
criteria and other relevant technical and legal requirements in
particular the HWD and revisions to European and UK
legislation;
- Review the application of relevant protocols and supporting
standards, techniques and tests in making determinations of the
hazardousness of waste with respect to all the defined Hazard
criteria; and
- Identify and develop a set of protocols to enable field
regulatory staff, technical members of the waste industry, and
others to make sound, consistent, technical and regulatory
judgements on the interpretation of the hazard status of a waste
consignment, arising or stream.
The document has been broken down into the following
sections:
- The technical
guidance note
(544k)
This section concentrates on the legal framework for the definition
of hazardous waste as defined by the HWD, how this definition is
derived and linked to EU legislation and also outlines the
methodology for assessing wastes based EWC 2002 and guidance on
determination of dangerous substances within waste;
- Appendix
A (179k)
Provides guidance on the use of EWC 2002. It reproduces the list in
full, including its amendments. The hazardous waste entries are
colour coded to identify whether they are ‘Absolute Entries’ – i.e.
hazardous regardless of the concentration of any components
present; or ‘Mirror Entries’ which are hazardous only if dangerous
substances are present above the threshold concentrations. The
colour coding is used to determine whether threshold limits need to
be used in the assessment of a particular waste;
- Appendix
B (912k)
Provides advice on the dangerous substances and/or properties that
could be associated for particular hazardous waste entries. An
explanation on classification is provided by way of worked examples
and discussion points to highlight key issues;
- Appendix
C (960k)
Provides advice on the fourteen hazardous properties: determining
assessment methods, threshold concentrations and advice on which
test methods should be considered for each hazard; and
- Appendix
D (955k)
Provides advice on the use of data sources that may be utilised
when trying to find appropriate data for substances within the
waste.
- Glossary of
Terms (123k)