Offsite Disposal , contaminated ,soils ,liquids non hazardous waste testing, WAC,

Offsite disposal
Characterisation and WAC (Waste Acceptance Criteria) testing governs the offsite disposal of waste or contaminated materials such as soil, ‘made ground’ and Waste that will be tested for a range of standard contaminants (including TPH i.e. oils, fuels etc) in accordance with EU landfill regulations (Landfill (England and Wales) Regulations 2002) that must be fully implemented by July 2009.

Technical advice and support is provided by CMT throughout the process resulting in the safe offsite disposal of a range of material as follows:

Waste Characterisation
European legislation EN 14473/02 specifies the criteria and procedures for acceptance of waste at landfills pursuant to Article 16 and Annex II of Directive 1999/31/EC (“Landfill Directive”). This is to determine whether waste is hazardous or non-hazardous.

Basic Characteristics
This is the first step in acceptance procedure and constitutes a full characterisation of the waste to gather information for safe disposal.

Basic characterisation is required for each type of waste and the requirements for this are:

Source and origin of waste
Information on the process producing the waste
Description of the waste treatment applied or a statement of reasons why treatment is not considered necessary
Data on the composition of the waste and leaching behaviour where relevant
Appearance
Code in accordance European Waste List
Relevant hazard properties according to Annex III of the Directive 91/689/EEC
Information to prove the waste may be accepted
Additional precautions to be taken at the site if necessary
Check if waste can be recycled

Waste Acceptance Criteria
Waste materials fall into three categories. These are fully defined within the legislation and are:

Inert waste
Non hazardous waste – e.g. food processing effluent, landfill leachate, street cleaning residues
Hazardous waste – shows one or more of 14 hazards (e.g. flammable, toxic, corrosive, etc.) that are defined in WM2
Directives and Guidance is available from the Environment Agency at: www.environment-agency.gov.uk

Each waste category has leaching limit value criteria for acceptance of a waste material at the relevant landfill site. Legislation has changed and as from 30 October 2007 there are tighter restrictions on Waste Acceptance – i.e. non-hazardous landfills will only accept treated solid and treated liquid wastes.

What is a treated waste?

A treated waste is one that has had one or more of the following:

Physical separation
Chemical process
Thermal process
Biological process

And the above process must change the characteristics of the waste in a way that can:

Reduce its’ volume
Reduce the hazardous nature
Facilitate its’ handling
Enhance its’ recovery

For non-hazardous wastes the hazardous nature cannot be reduced.

The chemistry department will provide the necessary guidance and support to achieve the safe disposal of waste to the appropriate facility via the most efficient and cost effective route.

Liquid Wastes
Liquid Wastes are banned from Landfill as from 30 October 2007. A liquid is defined as a free flowing substance with specific rheomorphology and is separate from sludge.