Managing hazardous waste

As demolition professionals, one of the key issues we are used to work with is hazardous waste.

Hazardous waste pose a risk to the environment and human health that require a strict control regime, and it is absolutely necessary to know the law, regulations and the procedures that must be followed regarding hazardous waste.

In Europe, the norm is laid down in particular in Articles 17 to 20 of Directive 2008/98/EC .

This Directive provides additional labeling, record keeping, monitoring and control obligations from the “cradle to the grave”, i.e., from the waste producer to the final disposal or recovery.

The classification into hazardous and non-hazardous waste is based on the system for the classification and labeling of dangerous substances and preparations, which ensures the application of similar principles over their whole life cycle.

The properties which render waste hazardous are laid down in Annex III of Directive 2008/98/EC and are further specified by the Decision 2000/532/ EC establishing a List of Wastes as last amended by Decision 2001/573/EC . (The List of Waste is subject to continuous updates and is currently being reviewed).

This year’s EDA Convention (14th – 16th June 2012) will be a great moment to get updated information about hazardous waste.

Robert Klotzbach, Director of Decommissioning at ERM , will be present at EDA 2012 Convention, where he will give a speech called “Hazardous waste: what is out there and what is coming up”.