Do uncontaminated soils equal waste?
SOURCE: CIWM, NOVEMBER 2007
According to the recent response-to-consultation, 75% of respondents favour legally binding Site Waste Management Plans. With strict penalties being introduced, it will be more important than ever for construction professionals to know their waste.
By definition, if materials have not been discarded, they need not figure in a SWMP. EA Guidance (April 2006) exists saying that uncontaminated materials produced during construction works can be handled as NON-wastes so long as they are suitable for some other use (such as regrading, or cut-and-fill) and certain to be put to that use.
The problem is that the EA Guidance limits it to re-use on the SAME site where the materials were produced. But under EU law, there is no justification for this limitation – quite the contrary. The Guidance indicates that the Agency’s view (at the time of publication) was that any soil taken off site would be a waste, albeit they indicated they would be reconsidering their position.
Presently, uncontaminated topsoil still appears on the Agency’s list of waste streams for which they intend to develop a suitable end-of-waste specification. But it is unlikely this will even materialise, as the new Waste Framework Directive is expected to overtake it, excluding uncontaminated materials from the definition of waste, whether reused on the same site or on a different site.
The construction industry are therefore more in need than ever of clear advice on what’s waste and what’s not.
AUTHOR: VINCENT BROWN
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