Council Directive 1999/31/ECShow full title

ANNEX II U.K. WASTE ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA AND PROCEDURES

1. Introduction U.K.

This Annex describes:

• general principles for acceptance of waste at the various classes of landfills. The future waste classification procedure should be based on these principles,

• guidelines outlining preliminary waste acceptance procedures to be followed until a uniform waste classification and acceptance procedure has been developed. This procedure will, together with the relevant sampling procedures, be developed by the technical Committee referred to in Article 16 of this Directive. The technical Committee shall develop criteria which have to be fulfilled for certain hazardous waste to be accepted in landfills for non-hazardous waste. These criteria should, in particular, take into account the short, medium and long term leaching behaviour of such waste. These criteria shall be developed within two years of the entry into force of this Directive. The technical Committee shall also develop criteria which have to be fulfilled for waste to be accepted in underground storage. These criteria must take into account, in particular, that the waste is not to be expected to react with each other and with the rock.

This work by the technical Committee, with the exception of proposals for the standardisation of control, sampling and analysis methods in relation to the Annexes of this Directive which shall be adopted within two years after the entry into force of this Directive, shall be completed within three years from the entry into force of this Directive and must be carried out having regard to the objectives set forth in Article 1 of this Directive.

2. General principles U.K.

The composition, leachability, long-term behaviour and general properties of a waste to be landfilled must be known as precisely as possible. Waste acceptance at a landfill can be based either on lists of accepted or refused waste, defined by nature and origin, and on waste analysis methods and limit values for the properties of the waste to be accepted. The future waste acceptance procedures described in this Directive shall as far as possible be based on standardised waste analysis methods and limit values for the properties of waste to be accepted.

Before the definition of such analysis methods and limit values, Member States should at least set national lists of waste to be accepted or refuses at each class of landfill, or defined the criteria required to be on the lists. In order to be accepted at a particular class of landfill, a type of waste must be on the relevant national list or fulfil criteria similar to those required to be on the list. These lists, or the equivalent criteria, and the analysis methods and limit values shall be sent to the Commission within six months of the transposition of this Directive or whenever they are adopted at national level.

These lists or acceptance criteria should be used to establish site specific lists, i.e. the list of accepted waste specified in the permit in accordance with Article 9 of this Directive.

The criteria for acceptance of waste on the reference lists or at a class of landfill may be based on other legislation and/or on waste properties.

Criteria for acceptance at a specific class of landfill must be derived from considerations pertaining to:

• protection of the surrounding environment (in particular groundwater and surface water),

• protection of the environmental protection systems (e.g. liners and leachate treatment systems),

• protection of the desired waste-stabilisation processes within the landfill,

• protection against human-health hazards.

Examples of waste property-based criteria are:

• requirements on knowledge of total composition,

• limitations on the amount of organic matter in the waste,

• requirements or limitations on the biodegradability of the organic waste components,

• limitations on the amount of specified, potentially harmful/hazardous components (in relation to the abovementioned protection criteria),

• limitations on the potential and expected leachability of specified, potentially harmful/hazardous components (in relation to the abovementioned protection criteria),

• ecotoxicological properties of the waste and the resulting leachate.

The property-based criteria for acceptance of waste must generally be most extensive for inert waste landfills and can be less extensive for non-hazardous waste landfills and least extensive for hazardous waste landfills owing to the higher environmental protection level of the latter two.

3. General procedures for testing and acceptance of waste U.K.

The general characterisation and testing of waste must be based on the following three-level hierarchy:

Level 1

:

Basic characterisation

.

This constitutes a thorough determination, according to standardised analysis and behaviour-testing methods, of the short and long-term leaching behaviour and/or characteristic properties of the waste.

Level 2

:

Compliance testing

.

This constitutes periodical testing by simpler standardised analysis and behaviour-testing methods to determine whether a waste complies with permit conditions and/or specific reference criteria. The tests focus on key variables and behaviour identified by basic characterisation.

Level 3

:

On-site verification

.

This constitutes rapid check methods to confirm that a waste is the same as that which has been subjected to compliance testing and that which is described in the accompanying documents. It may merely consist of a visual inspection of a load of waste before and after unloading at the landfill site.

A particular type of waste must normally be characterised at Level 1 and pass the appropriate criteria in order to be accepted on a reference list. In order to remain on a site-specific list, a particular type of waste must a regular intervals (e.g. annually) be tested at Level 2 and pass the appropriate criteria. Each waste load arriving at the gate of a landfill must be subjected to Level 3 verification.

Certain waste types may be exempted permanently to temporarily from testing at Level 1. This may be due to impracticability to testing, to unavailability of appropriate testing procedures and acceptance criteria or to overriding legislation.

4. Guidelines for preliminary waste acceptance procedures U.K.

Until this Annex is fully completed only Level 3 testing is mandatory and Level 1 and Level 2 applied to the extent possible. At this preliminary stage waste to be accepted at a particular class of landfill must either be on a restrictive national or site-specific list for that class of landfill or fulfil criteria similar to those required to get on the list.

The following general guidelines may be used to set preliminary criteria for acceptance of waste at the three major classes of landfill or the corresponding lists.

Inert waste landfills

:

only inert waste as defined in Article 2(e) can be accepted on the list.

Non-hazardous waste landfills

:

in order to be accepted on the list a waste type must not be covered by Directive 91/689/EEC.

Hazardous waste landfills

:

a preliminary rough list for hazardous waste landfills would consist of only those waste types covered by Directive 91/689/EEC. Such waste types should, however not be accepted on the list without prior treatment if they exhibit total contents or leachability of potentially hazardous components that are high enough to constitute a short-term occupational or environmental risk or to prevent sufficient waste stabilisation within the projected lifetime of the landfill.

F1 5. Sampling of waste U.K.

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Textual Amendments

F1 Deleted by Directive (EU) 2018/850 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste (Text with EEA relevance).

[F2 6. Specific requirements for metallic mercury U.K.

For the purposes of temporary storage for more than 1 year of metallic mercury, the following requirements shall apply:

A.

Composition of the mercury

Metallic mercury shall comply with the following specifications:

• mercury content greater than 99,9 % per weight,

• no impurities capable of corroding carbon or stainless steel (e.g. nitric acid solution, chloride salts solutions).

B.

Containment

Containers used for the storage of metallic mercury shall be corrosion- and shock-resistant. Welds shall therefore be avoided. The containers shall comply in particular with the following specifications:

• container material: carbon steel (ASTM A36 minimum) or stainless steel (AISI 304, 316L),

• containers shall be gas and liquid tight,

• the outer side of the container shall be resistant against the storage conditions,

• the design type of the container shall successfully pass the drop test and the leakproofness tests as described in Chapters 6.1.5.3 and 6.1.5.4 of the UN Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods, Manual of Tests and Criteria.

The maximum filling ratio of the container shall be 80 % by volume to ensure that sufficient ullage is available and neither leakage nor permanent distortion of the container can occur as a result of an expansion of the liquid due to high temperature.

C.

Acceptance procedures

Only containers with a certificate complying with the requirements set out in this Section shall be accepted.

Acceptance procedures shall comply with the following:

• only metallic mercury which fulfils the minimum acceptance criteria set out above shall be accepted,

• containers shall be visually inspected before storage. Damaged, leaking or corroded containers shall not be accepted,

• containers shall bear a durable stamp (made by punching) mentioning the identification number of the container, the construction material, its empty weight, the reference of the manufacturer and the date of construction,

• containers shall bear a plate permanently fixed to the container mentioning the identification number of the certificate.

D.

Certificate

The certificate indicated in subsection C shall include the following elements:

• name and address of the waste producer,

• name and address of the responsible for the filling,

• place and date of filling,

• quantity of the mercury,

• the purity of the mercury and, if relevant, a description of the impurities, including the analytical report,

• confirmation that the containers have been used exclusively for the transport/storage of mercury,

• the identification numbers of the containers,

• any specific comments.

Certificates shall be issued by the producer of the waste or, in default, by the person responsible for its management.]

Textual Amendments

F2 Inserted by Council Directive 2011/97/EU of 5 December 2011 amending Directive 1999/31/EC as regards specific criteria for the storage of metallic mercury considered as waste.