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How do you classify waste soil

Did you know that those wise folk at the European Commission (EC) decided that when you intend to remove soil from your site that it…

How do you classify waste soil

Did you know that those wise folk at the European Commission (EC) decided that when you intend to remove soil from your site that it becomes classified as a waste…?

Why…

  • “Waste” is defined in Article 1(a) of the Waste Framework Directive (75/156/EEC and 91/156/EEC) as “any substance or object (in the categories set out in Annex 1) which the holder discards or intends, or is required to discard.”

…in other words if you want to get rid of your soil you are judged to be discarding it and hence it becomes classified as a waste as it may contain hazardous properties, even if you want to give it away free…!

So what you need to do is first classify your (waste) soil as either Hazardous or Non-hazardous.

How do you do this…?  Well that’s quite complicated and we’re publishing an e-book in the next few weeks on the intricacies of how this is done.  However, to wet your appetite in short you need to;

Step one – Find the appropriate waste category in the European Waste Catalogue (EWC). It’ll more than likely be 17 05 03*.

Step two – Determine the ‘worst case compounds’ (WCC) that may be presence.

Step three – Calculate the concentration of these WCC’s.

Step four – Determine the Risk Phrases for the WCC’s and associated Hazardous Properties and thresholds attributed to them.

Step five – Determine if the Hazardous Threshold has been exceeded.

If a Hazardous threshold has been exceeded then your material will be classified as being Hazardous and if not then it’s a Non-Hazardous material.

Simples…!  If not why not give us a call…?

FREE EBOOK

2021

Soil remediation guide

Approaching soil remediation without any prior knowledge can be difficult and uncomfortable at times, especially when it can potentially be very costly. This free eBook will help you understand the whats, the whys and the hows of soil remediation in the simplest terms.

FREE EBOOK

2022

Waste soil classification and disposal options

Classifying waste soils for disposal without any prior knowledge can be difficult and uncomfortable at times, especially when it can be very costly if you incorrectly classify the material. This eBook will help you understand the whats, the whys and the hows of waste soil classification in the simplest terms.

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