REACH and the concept of "sameness"
Source: CIWM, July 2010
The looming November 2010 deadline for full registration of substances under REACH will be a major headache for many companies manufacturing recovered products from waste.
Many companies followed EA advice in 2008, and pre-registered their recovered substances to ensure they could continue to be produced and marketed. REACH allows recovered substances to escape full registration where "the same" substance is registered, and certain information is available to the establishment making the recovered substance.
However, the question of whether a recovered substance is "the same" as a registered substance is potentially vexed. ECHA Guidance on Waste and Recovered Substances indicates that it is the "sameness" of the main constituents that is key, and that the presence of impurities will not automatically mean that the substances are not "the same". However, it goes on to state that, where the impurities in the recovered substance are markedly different from the equivalent "virgin" substance, expert judgement must be applied to decide if the differences affect test data sufficiently to render it unsuitable for use in relation to the recovered substance.
The extent to which a substance is likely to be the same as its "virgin" equivalent may be influenced by the recovery process and waste stream, and certain sectors of the industry may therefore have a tougher ride than others.
One of the biggest problems for operators will be obtaining enough information about the "virgin" substance to assess its similarity to their recovered substance. Although there is some information on ECHA's website, if no pre-SIEF exists for the substance, operators may have no option but to seek to obtain information direct from manufacturers and importers.
AUTHOR: VINCENT BROWN
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