Completing the definition of inert waste in §22 2006/21/EC

Completing the definition of inert waste in implementation of Article 22(1)(f) of Directive 2006/21/EC of the European Parliament and the Council concerning the management of waste from extractive industries.

The purpose of complementing the definition of inert waste is to establish clear criteria and conditions under which waste from extractive industries can be considered as inert waste.

1. Waste shall be considered as being inert waste, within the meaning of Article 3(3) of Directive 2006/21/EC, where all of the following criteria, are fulfilled in both the short and the long term:

• (a) the waste will not undergo any significant disintegration or dissolution or other significant change likely to cause any adverse environmental effect or harm human health;

• (b) the waste has a maximum content of sulphide sulphur of 0,1 %, or the waste has a maximum content of sulphide sulphur of 1 % and the neutralising potential ratio, defined as the ratio between the neutralising potential and the acid potential, and determined on the basis of a static test prEN 15875 is greater than 3;

• (c) the waste presents no risk of self-combustion and will not burn;

• (d) the content of substances potentially harmful to the environment or human health in the waste, and in particular As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mo, Ni, Pb, V and Zn, including in any fine particles alone of the waste, is sufficiently low to be of insignificant human and ecological risk, in both the short and the long term. In order to be considered as sufficiently low to be of insignificant human and ecological risk, the content of these substances shall not exceed national threshold values for sites identified as not contaminated or relevant national natural background levels;

• (e) the waste is substantially free of products used in extraction or processing that could harm the environment or human health.

2. Waste may be considered as inert waste without specific testing if it can be demonstrated, to the satisfaction of the competent authority, that the criteria set out in paragraph 1 have been adequately considered and are met on the strength of existing information or valid procedures or schemes.