Waste

The European List of Wastes (Decision 2000/532/EC, amended by Decision 2014/955/EC) contains a list of waste types that are categorised into absolute hazardous entries, absolute non-hazardous entries and mirror entries. Waste from mirror entries has to be allocated to the hazardous or non-hazardous mirror entry. A waste is defined as hazardous, if it displays at least one of 15 hazard properties or contains certain persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in concentrations above specific limit values. Hazard properties (HP) including HP 14 (ecotoxic) are determined based on the concentrations of the waste constituents or based on testing.

ECT performed several projects focusing on the hazard property ‘ecotoxic’ (HP 14), e.g. ‘Identification of wastes hazardous to the environment in mirror entries…’ and ‘Evaluation of a biotest battery for the ecotoxicological characterisation of waste…’. Furthermore, we contributed to developing the German ‘Recommendations for the ecotoxicological characterization of wastes’ and a harmonized strategy for the assessment of the hazard property 14 ‘ecotoxic’ (Pandard & Römbke 2013). In a recent project, we elaborated proposals for updating and further developing the German ‘Recommendations for the ecotoxicological characterization of wastes’ (read more). Based on the experience gained in these projects, ECT is perfectly prepared to evaluate the hazard property ‘ecotoxic’ (HP 14) of waste, i.e. complex mixtures, according to current guidance.