Council Directive 1999/31/ECShow full title

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.